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The Extended Warm-up
One of my favorite programming tricks is to extend the warm-up. Maybe you’ve got a few more years under your belt and need a bit more time to get warm and loose. Maybe your R4 work isn’t super intense, but you want to maintain some power and athleticism. Or maybe you want to get a […]
Continue ReadingBen Ashworth on Outcome-Driven Shoulder Training & Performance
Ben Ashworth is a dual qualified shoulder specialist who has over 20 years of experience working with athletes as a physio and strength coach in a wide range of performance environments. Ben has worked in elite rugby at London Wasps, across Olympic sports in the lead up to London 2012, and spent six years as […]
Continue Reading13 Push-ups for Athletic Dominance
Hey friend this week I’ve got a 2-for-1 for you – a new article AND a new video to go along with it! If you’ve followed me for any period of time, you know that I LOVE push-ups…but that wasn’t always the case. Back in my powerlifting days, I thought if you weren’t doing heavy […]
Continue ReadingAnthony Donskov on Using Tech and Applying Sports Science in the Private Sector
Anthony Donskov is the founder and head performance coach at Donskov Strength and Conditioning, and the author of the amazing book, Physical Preparation for Hockey: Biological Principles and Practical solutions. But more importantly, Anthony just went back and got his Ph.D., so I was curious – at 40+ years old, what makes you do that? […]
Continue ReadingMike and Luka on Wins, Losses and Playing the Long-Game in the Fitness Industry
I’ve got a pretty special podcast for you this week my friend. As you may or may not know, I spent last weekend in Seattle giving one of my Complete Coach Seminars. These are always great weekends, which are only made better by the amazing people I have around me. Now if you know anything […]
Continue ReadingMarch Q&A: Assessments, Program Design and YOUR Coaching Evolution
We’rrrreeeee back! It’s the March edition of our Q&A podcast, and I’ve got some really great questions and topics for you this month. Online assessment and program design. Are your clients extended? Flexed? In a posterior tilt? I’ll explain the difference and why there’s so much confusion. And my best advice for young and older […]
Continue ReadingDr. Ebonie Rio on Strength, Springs and Rebuilding the Athletic Knee
Here’s a crazy stat: Recent research by Bunt et al suggests that roughly one in four adults will suffer from chronic knee pain, and it’s prevalence has increased almost 65% over the past 20 years. And similar to that, McNerney and Arendt state that roughly 30% of young athletes suffer from anterior knee pain, with […]
Continue ReadingDr. Courtney Conley on Assessing, Treating and Training the Foot
As children, most of us are born into the world with two happy and healthy feet. They move, bend, and push just like they were designed to. But over the years, whether it’s through bad shoes, lack of motion, or flat out weakness, we tend to lose those ideal foot mechanics – and the downside […]
Continue Reading10 Programming Tips I Wish I Would’ve Known Starting Out
When you’re just starting out as a trainer or coach, as the saying goes: You don’t know what you don’t know. And I think this is especially true with regards to writing programs. Whether it’s using antiquated ways to program intensity, making everyone conform to 4-week training cycles, or skipping key steps early-on in the […]
Continue ReadingPrinciples, Strategies and Tools To Be A Better In-Person Coach
Well, couldn’t sleep last night but I guess it was because I was so fired up to share this! 🙂 Last week I went on my good friend Luka Hocevar’s podcast, with the primary theme being “how to be a better in-person coach.” As always, Luka and I could talk forever on these shows, but […]
Continue ReadingFebruary Q&A: Isometric Training, Performance Assessments, and the IFAST Internship
We’rrrreeeee back! It’s the February edition of our Q&A podcast, and man do we have a bunch of topics to cover. Performance assessments. Isometric training and testing. Why everyone and their sister is squatting with a heel wedge. And why IFAST is evolving. So without any further ado, let’s jump right in! Isometrics are […]
Continue ReadingHow to Program Offset Activities
Today I want to do a little customer Q&A! Here’s a question I received from Matt who is going through my Complete Coach Certification: Hey Mike! I’m going through the cert and I’m hoping you can help me better understand a few concepts: A) When and how to “load” vs “propulse,” B) The concept of […]
Continue ReadingAaron Cunanan on Developing a Sports Science Team in Pro Baseball
One of my favorite aspects of this show is getting these little peeks behind the “high performance” curtain. Even if we don’t work in elite sport, or have the resources they have available to them, getting an understanding into the systems and thought processes they use to build the best athletes in the world can […]
Continue ReadingThe Scissor Cue for Swaybacks
Let’s talk a little bit of coaching and cuing today my friend! If someone is dealing with an anterior pelvic tilt/anterior orientation, I like to use two cues to clean that up: Soft knees, and Belt buckle up. However, we get ourselves into trouble when we cue all of our clients and athletes the same […]
Continue ReadingHow to Build a Better Squat (or Any Movement Pattern)
As trainers, coaches and rehab professionals, I hope we can all agree that we want our clients and athletes to move better. But how often does somebody just kill it on Day 1? You’re coaching them up, then you just throw out that one magic cue and, BOOM! They’re moving perfectly. Maybe sometimes…but not nearly […]
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