Few people have done more to raise the profile of the high school strength and conditioning coach in recent years than Gary Schofield. In this wide-ranging conversation, he shares what it means to him to be a high school strength coach and what’s in the works at the NHSSCA, as well as some perspective and wisdom gained over the course …
Zach Fears – Do You Even VBT? – Episode 17
Velocity-based training (VBT) isn’t new, but there are still a lot of coaches who have yet to leverage its full potential. In this episode, Zach Fears, the director of strength and conditioning at Southeastern Oklahoma State, shares why he is a firm believer in VBT, what it has done for the SEOSU athletic program and some of the basics you …
Keir Wenham-Flatt – Is This the Condition That I Feared? – Episode 16
Keir Wenham-Flatt took a circuitous route to his current role as the strength coach for William & Mary football. His experience coaching pro rugby athletes all over the world reveals an important truth coaches can benefit from – failure isn’t the terrifying outcome we believe it to be. Three Cycle Strength Episode Rundown: Keir Wenham-Flatt Where in the World Is …
Mike Tucker – Acquiring a Particular Set of Skills – Episode 15
Strength and conditioning coaches are experts at weight room programming, expertly wielding tools like racks, bars and plates to build their athletes. But many coaches may be failing to use their knowledge of athletic performance to help athletes acquire the particular skill set they need to reach their potential within competition. In this episode, Mike Tucker, strength and conditioning coach …
Michelle Diltz – Intentional Self Evaluation – Episode 14
The University of Alabama may be famous for their dominant football program, but there are a lot of elite athletes being trained in Tuscaloosa that have never stepped on the gridiron. Their strength coach, Michelle Diltz, has been one of the best in the profession for the last 15 years. In this conversation, Diltz shares how this unusual year allowed …
Rick Sneade – Transformational Mindset Amid COVID-19 Uncertainty – Episode 13
Last Wednesday, Calvert High School in Prince Frederick, Maryland returned to strength and conditioning within COVID-19 protocols. Their director of strength and performance, Rick Sneade, speaks about his initial reactions, lessons learned and the preparation that made it possible. Sneade believes in the power of transformational coaching instead of the smaller-picture, transactional mindset, and it has been a guiding principle …
Don Day – The Dangers of Arrogance – Episode 12
Don Day opens up about the mistakes he made earlier in his career, how he learned from those mistakes and why he feels arrogance presents a huge pitfall for young strength and conditioning coaches. The director of strength and conditioning for Olympic sports at Georgia Southern University seemed to be on the fast track to becoming a high-paid, Power-Five football …
Lee Weber – Training Like Cats, Not Dogs – Episode 11
Faster athletes will cover a multitude of other shortcomings in an athletic program. That’s why Lee Weber, the head strength and conditioning and football coach at Rose Hill High School in Kansas, prioritizes training speed in his programming. Not only does Weber make speed a priority, he has invested some serious time into understanding how to train speed optimally. Heavily …
Justin Lima – Training Smarter AND Harder – Episode 8
Justin Lima, the Director of Football Performance at Towson University, joins us to break down how coaches should utilize the concept of acute to chronic training workload to minimize the risk of injury and have confidence in how hard they are pushing their athletes. When it comes to athletic performance, coaches are far more likely to embrace uncomfortably hard training …
Tobias Jacobi – Educators and Students of Athletic Performance – Episode 7
Tobias Jacobi fills a lot of roles at Strong Rock Christian School in Locust Grove, Georgia. He takes each of them seriously, including the title of educator, which he embraces in a way that brings both job security and a fresh perspective on his role as a strength coach. As an Associate A.D. and strength coach, he advocates for his athletes …