I see myself as a movement practitioner; one that is looking to aid in the process of moving more efficiently. This will hopefully reduce the rate of injury as well the quality of performance. So when I am making a program I am looking to see where everything fits into helping this process best. With all of that being said, I place all movements in a work out with the intention of making better athletes.
To put it in a term that I think that everyone can relate to, I am what they call a functional trainer. What that means for example in terms exercise selection is that I would opt for a ground based position over a seated one. I know I can lift more weight in the more stable seated position (for some movements), but it means nothing to me if an athlete can not optimally press or pull something with out maintaining a neutral alignment.
There are ways I can position my athletes in which I can lift greater loads or in a position with an increased stability demands. Manipulating foot position is simple but effective method that increases the body’s ability to stabilize and thus lift greater loads. This is critical in circumstances with athletes that are looking to increase their strength as well as novice athletes that still have difficulty maintaining a neutral posture during movement. Thus the creation of: Myofascial Line Training.
I am absolutely obsessed with Jim Wendler’s 5-3-1 program (2); I think it is a work of genius. The best part of it is the creativity it allows me as a coach/lifter to have. The rep range is perfect; I do not know of an athlete that doesn’t need to get better at 5s, 3s, and most importantly 1s. It is a great method for training; the problem is that I do not have athletes that are capable of performing this.
Here is my predicament: I work in a Division 1 setting with full scholarship athletes. I see them primarily most of the year, exception being holidays and intersession between semesters. All in all it works out to be 40-45 weeks every year. To break this down even further most of the year we are in either post season, pre season, and in season. I really only have an 8-10 week block of hard training. As much as I would like to say I have a good lifters, this is not enough time to say I can develop elite lifters.
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