Last Week

This is our last week of training the rest of our high school and college football players. We lost about half of our crew last week to training camp, with the rest to follow. While we will certainly miss those who have left us for the season, we look forward to cheering you on this fall! This summer was a blast, with endless laughs, intense moments, and bonds that were forged that will last for a long time.

Kick ass in training camp!

Rules

I love reading Zach Even-Esh's stuff (http://www.zacheven-esh.com/) because he constantly reminds us that rules in the strength training world need to be closely evaluated, and many times broken. I have broken so many "rules" this summer that I cannot even begin to count them.

-We have done overspeed training before ME Lower Body days.
-We go to failure (or what our athletes perceive as failure) on virtually EVERY set we do (except neck, core, and certain warmup sets).
-We have trained the same muscle groups on back to back days while performing a Metabolic Training circuit the day after a Repetition Upper Body Lift.
-We have trained Upper and Lower Body ME lifts on consecutive days.
-We have not done one single Hang Clean this summer as a part of our program.

I was told that all of these things were bad ideas, but sometimes the circumstances require you to bend the rules a little. And you know what? Sometimes when you bend the rules, you find that they were kind of silly to begin with. We had a training facility on M-Th this summer, which dictated what we trained, and when we trained it. We got it done, and got A LOT stronger, and significantly faster in the process.

I am so proud of our guys, because they demonstrated the POWER that an insane training environment has on strength and speed development.

Am I saying break all of the rules? Absolutely not, I am simply saying that if you are questioning something try it for yourself.

There is only one rule that I will never waver on, and that is SAFETY. I will never compromise the safety of my athletes during a workout.

Get Jacked!

Matt

Environment

Training environment is HUGE...A vastly, vastly underrated component of training. I am only going to ever train in a commercial facility again if I:

A.) Am out of town.
B.) Want to get really, really depressed and unmotivated to train.

Tonight we had one of the best lifts I have ever witnessed. Chalk lathered the floor. Guys had their shirts off, proud of the work they have accomplished over the summer, and were screaming their hearts out in support of each other. A bunch of rap music and Linkin Park blared in the background, and I could not have been more proud. 17 college football players, under one roof, many of them from rival schools, enduring the pain, putting forth the effort...EARNING a spot on the travel squad, or the starting lineup, or the special teams unit.

Our guys have gotten stronger, and it doesn't have a thing to do with me, they MADE an environment where anything other than 100% intensity was unacceptable. Jim Wendler of Elite FTS said it best, when I heard him say that it doesn't matter what program you are on, it is what you put into the program; basically he was inferring that a crappy program performed with 100% heart and effort is better than a great program that is half assed.

And you know what? I couldn't agree more. The next time you go to work at Gold's, ask yourself, am I REALLY getting stronger? Bigger? In better shape? Get OUT of your comfort zone, and find a place to train that has some actual training environment; trust me, you won't regret it!

Get after it,

Matt

Board Press

I think that Board Presses have been outstanding additions to our strength training programs. While it is great to include full ROM exercise, the fact of the matter is that many athletes are limited by their weakest link in major muscle building movements such as the bench press, where the triceps often are not strong enough to move the barbell through the "sticking" point.

Board Presses are a GREAT solution because they allow the lifter to target heavier loads when training, and to really develop the triceps during this range of motion. By increasing your Board Press, you are own your way to a bigger bench, and we all know what that means; a bigger, more powerful chest and deltoid region.

There is a huge mental component of training that I feel often gets overlooked. By training on the Board Press for 3-5 weeks, you will become used to handling heavier loads, particularly on the eccentric portion of the lift. This will make for big gains when you return to the Bench Press because what you used to "think" was/felt heavy will now be light!

Shawn Lattimer has an outstanding article on the Board Press, including excellent directions on how to make your own:

http://www.criticalbench.com/board-press.htm

For putting the boards together, I would reccomend using "Gorilla Glue" Wood Glue. It is quick, easy, and very effective.

Athletes are NOT powerlifters, but many would benefit from incorporating more of their training techniques. One thing I have learned is that it is very, very naive to assume that all lifters are perfectly proportioned through the entire ROM of every exercise. Every lifter has his own "weak points" or sticking points, and those need to be addressed.

I would recommend starting with a 3 Board Press. It is 6 inches off of the chest, and represents the bottom third-bottom half of the lift for most guys, the "Bermuda Triangle" or sticking point of most Bench Presses.

Please check out PTS client Nick Ranali on the 3 Board Press. When I started working with Nick, he could Bench Press 205 X3. 3 Months and 10 pounds later, Nick crushes 255X4.5 on the 3 Board Press!

You Get Out What You Put In

Greetings Everyone, and welcome to my first blog post!

I hope to use this blog to share what's on my mind, to make you laugh, and most importantly, to make you think!

I have a phrase on the bottom of every program that every single one of my athletes is on. It says "You Get Out What You Put In." While I did intend for this to be used in terms of giving 110% in the weight room, I also think that it speaks volumes about life. Whether it is your job, your relationship, practice, or a strength training session, you HAVE to put effort into something if you want to reap the benefits.

As many of you know, I was the Head Strength Coach at Siena College for 2.5 years. While at Siena, as a very young strength coach (I was 24 during my first year) I spent a great deal of time trying to CONVINCE athletes to work hard. After several conversations with colleagues, and many failed efforts in my quest to get these athletes working hard, I simply gave up. I realized that if I have to convince you to work hard, as a college athlete, then it is already too late. As the saying goes, the cream always rises to the top, and Siena afforded me many tremendous student athletes who WERE willing to bust their ass for me.

Now that I am in the private side of this business, I love the fact that I rarely see this phenomenon play out. If you are paying $$ for something, then you really do want to be there, and it is a true joy being surrounded by those who want to better themselves. I have been amazed by this first crop of athletes I trained this summer, they have done whatever I have asked them to do, and rather than question it or give a half assed effort, have sold out and put their faith in me. It is just awesome to see.

Life is one big workout. If you don't put forth any effort, don't expect to see many results.

Enjoy the blog!