Becoming a Strength Coach At A Small School

Here is a piece that was submitted to the NSCA, incase you missed it:

Before we get going, I would like to thank the National Strength and Conditioning Association. The NSCA has been a constant source of professional development and information, and having this opportunity to share some thoughts and experiences about what a NCAA Division III strength and conditioning professional faces, is an honor and a privilege. The powerful play goes on and I am humbled to contribute a verse.

So you want to be a DIII strength coach?  I don’t blame you; it is a pretty sweet gig. Yes, there are over four hundred and fifty DIII schools, more than DI and DII. Yes, the athletes are not given athletic scholarships. And yes, you better be ready for a few things you are not going to see anywhere else. And no, I am not talking about the unbelievable amount of time that you are going to spend on campus, or the frustrations we all share when the sport coach decides to up and change their schedule just because. Those are things that every strength coach is going to wrestle with; I am talking about things that are unique to the NCAA DIII world.

The first thing is to understand athletics is one of the most powerful recruiting arms the institution has.  Whether or not this is understood, or even embraced by the administration, doesn’t matter. As part of the recruitment of potential students, it falls back on you to help spread the brand of the institution and to help create top of mind awareness in the local area. This happens by the countless small invisible actions that help funnel students into a particular institution over another. Try and account for the influence that the high school coach has over their athletes. That is where you come in my friend. Reaching out to the local schools and see what you can do to help them in the weight room or inviting the coaches over to the gym to “talk shop” are small steps to gain the trust of coaches and help them be confident in giving advice about your institution.

Every school has a handful of retired faculty, coaches, and other prominent community members that gather together at the local diner and talk about how things are going while drinking strong and cheap coffee. While these people are not quite the exact same as the boosters of large DI schools, never underestimate the power they have. Most DIII schools are very involved in the local community and local college sports always have a place on the rotating topic list. This group of potential allies, are often neglected, which is a shame. Not only do they have hilarious stories and outlandish experiences that you can learn from, but they have an abundance of the most precious commodity: time. Time to talk to people like the Athletic Director and the President of the school about how the community perceives the college community and give their ideas of what the college is doing well or what it could be better at. Why is that important, you ask?

Politics, that’s all. At our level, the more the AD and President knows and hear about all the good things you are doing from people other than themselves, the more they are going to want to support you and the program moving forward. The more support you can get, the more you can do, which means getting the things you need to have, like money for assistants. More assistants mean more community outreach. After all, the more community support the school has, the more students enroll, and the more money the school brings in.

On the DIII campus, you better be ready to share. No surprise to anyone, there are only 6 open hours (2 hours before classes start and 4 hours in the afternoon) in the day to have training sessions with every team. Logistically that is going to be a challenge. What about the size of your facilities, you ask? They are probably going to be smaller than what is needed, and depending on your training philosophy, there might be useless equipment taking up precious space.  By the way, the overwhelming majority of DIII schools do not have separate facilities for athletes to use, so you better find a way to account for general students or staff members that want to work out when you have a training session. There are few things more upsetting than coming into the gym with a team all cranked up to have a squat session, to find half of the racks being used by other people doing who knows what. I doubt that is something Ohio State or Oregon has to worry about.  Not only does sharing have to happen in the weightroom, but in other areas on campus as well. Being in a northern Great Lakes state the majority of the academic year, we have to plan for two old friends, snow and cold weather. So, say you want to do some speed and agility work with an offseason team. You better be prepared to check what other teams need to use the space. What about academic classes? Yes, check with them as well. Does the campus community need this for recreation use? Better check with that user group too. Welcome to the world of multi-use areas and facilities.

Did you think the only thing you have to share are facilities? Quit being silly. Look at a job description for a DIII position. Expect to have your dream position as a strength coach be just one part of the full description with other duties like being a sport coach, teaching, equipment manager, or even doing game management. The typical work day is the same for any strength coach, usually 6 am to 6:30 pm, but with most DIII coaches, you have to change your mental gears as well as your clothes multiple times over the course of the day. Be ready to do all the programming, coaching, and make workouts sports-specific (yes sport coaches and administrators still talk like this) with a staff of one. It take more focus and discipline than you can expect, to go from coaching in the weightroom, to teaching in the class room, back to the weightroom, then off to practice. It is unbelievably difficult to do a great job while being pulled all those different directions. Remember how the general adaptation syndrome warns that when people are exposed to multiple contradicting stresses, they will experience maladaptation? Same idea here.

Don’t misunderstand me, not everything is doom and gloom. If you are looking at an open position for a DIII school, just be ready for it. Clear eyes, full hearts. Right?

The experiences at this level of competition are not going to be anything like what you expect it to be. First of all, the athletes are generally good people and are willing to try just about anything you come up with without wondering if this is going to help or hurt their chances of going pro. Once you accept the fact there are significantly better athletes you will not be coaching, you begin to realize just how great of an impact you can have. After all, helping an athlete go from a 4.28 second forty to a 4.22 is a great reason to celebrate if you’re working with a potential draft pick, but what happens when the athlete goes from a 5.16 to a 4.82? We DIII coaches are not going to draw any attention with that blazing speed, nor receive a bonus check from their agent, yet at the end of the athlete’s career, they might come to see you with misty eyes and offer a very sincere “Thanks Coach for everything you did to help me…” and offer a hand shake. Then something shows up in the mail that you would not expect: an invitation to their wedding. Asking you to be there for one of the most important days in that athlete’s life is something that goes beyond words. All because you spent some time and taught them to be on the right path so they can live a successful life.

Besides the bonds that are made with your athletes, there is one other key concept that is attractive about working at a DIII school. These positions allow coaches to be as creative and successful as they choose to be. Most of the athletic administration wants your success, but the coffers are bare or earmarked for other more visible investments than an athletic support service like athletic training, equipment, or strength and conditioning. The easy answer for administration to give for the majority of your problems is that you are just going to have to do more with less. I call shenanigans on that! It’s not about doing more with less: it is about getting the most out of what we have. Your personal resourcefulness. We all have this wondrous collection of white and grey matter that rests between all of our ears, so let’s get a mental sweat going.

Everything comes down to time and money, and luckily, those are not impossible to get. You saw the example for the typical day above, and that has to change in order to be successful. How do you get help then? If your university is fortunate enough to have an exercise science department, there are opportunities to get some undergraduate help. Remember this help will generally be suited for some of the simple busy work until you can develop them as young coaches. To get some higher quality help, you are going to need to put some money on the line. After all, experience is a great reward, but it is hard to pay the rent with it. There are simple and easy ways to generate some cash flows, just have your art department (or an artsy student) design an image and use a website like Zazzle.com to sell products to students who are lifting in the weightroom. You might only make a few bucks per transaction, but with revenue, enough streams can eventually turn into the mighty Mississippi. Need more scratch? Host a lift-a thon. What about getting some money and professional development? Why travel all over to see people speak, throw a clinic and get them to come to you and make a small profit to boot. You can figure out the areas that are undeserved in your world and find a way to fill those areas, then, lay it out in a way that your administration can easily say yes. Before too long, you can afford to get new equipment or even some new staff members to assist you.

For those of you who feel this is up your alley, I salute you. These positions are not just for anyone who wants to get in our field.

Here is a special message to the people who are still working on your undergraduate degree. Get in a gym every day. Period. If you are going to talk with a coach about volunteering with their staff, you first need to pass the eyeball test. Understand that it is a sin against all that is good in this world if you look like you cannot do at least ten continuous push-ups and come ask a coach if you can help them with their athletes. If an opportunity pops up for you to volunteer, and yes undergrads will almost never get paid, keep your mouth shut and learn as much as you can. It doesn’t matter if you think what they are doing is right or wrong, you can learn as much from what not to do, as what to do.

Keep in mind that unlike larger scholarship schools, there will not be an Olympic strength program and a football strength program: you have to be able to fluently speak the language of multiple sports. For example, a potential intern was talking about a recent basketball home game and said “we just stood at the top of the half circle bouncing the ball before someone took a shot.” They were thanked for their time and quickly shown the door. If a person does not know enough to call, “bouncing”, “dribbling” or that the half circle is the three point line, how can they speak and relate to the basketball teams? In that case, it was better to be alone then in poor company.

Regardless of what you think, football is still the biggest kid on the block and will most certainly have a hand in determining the top candidates for an open position. If you do not have football as part of your background that is not a make or break. If you want to immerse yourself into that world to gain the moniker of a “football guy/gal”, just get involved with the local football program for a season. If not, just be the best possible coach as possible and that will improve your street credit.

The last tip for all the job seekers out there, is to get experiences outside the normal exercise science curriculum. Does someone do powerlifting nearby? Ask to workout with them for a few months. Same with people who do bodybuilding, the O lifts, strongman. You might even try your hand with the CrossFit crowd. Learn from everyone who is competent to teach you and live in that world for as much as you can. This is going to give you a gift that cannot be read in a text book. This gift is called diversity, it lets you to see things from different perspectives and offer solutions in problem solving situations. Do this enough and you will steer free from blind dogmatic beliefs. When most good coaches hire for positions, they are not looking for people to tell them what they already know: they want you to use your strengths to amplify their own.

Here is a thank you for you. Taking time to read is a lot like flossing your teeth: we all know it needs to be done daily, but it is one of those things that are really easy to skip. Keep reading and improving so together we can raise the bar.

We need to talk

I come to you with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart. A conversation is deeply needed on how to have youth and sports co-exist. With the emergence and popularity of reality TV shows, the tendency has shifted to show extreme behaviors that generate a shock factor to the viewers. Over the years, there has been a variety of shows that have depicted various coaches working with the youth of America in different sports and competitions. And yes, there is a nobility in the pursuit of achieving excellence in sport, yet this drive has consumed the populace and we have allowed our youth to be mentored by people that have no care to the awesome responsibility or have earned the privilege of holding the title of "Coach".

Of all the egregious behaviors that have been dramatized for our consumption, a new line has been drawn in the sand. A new show: "Friday Night Tykes"  follows the 8 to 9 year old rookies division of the Texas Youth Football Association. On the official page of Friday Night Tykes, the producers make a statement: "Throughout, coaches and parents offer insight into why they believe they're teaching valuable lessons about discipline and dedication, but also grapple with serious questions about parenting, safety, and at what price we're pushing our kids to win." In this text lies a grain of truth, and that truth is something I feel we can all rally behind, yet the message becomes blurred in their YouTube sneak preview.

In over 15 years of coaching men and women, there have been a few things I have learned, which has been the onus for blogging. In that time, some of the truths that have been uncovered are: there is no such thing as an elite youth program or elite participant, as youth athletics depends greatly on the level of maturation of the participant. While it is true that competitive sports do require levels of discipline, work, and mental toughness, there becomes a point where the coach, who is developing these skills, can become disoriented and confuses their personal tolerance level of stress with what their participant can tolerate. As we saw from the video clip, there are moments where the adults in charge blindly charge past the boundaries of acceptable and into the depths of negligence.

Compliance and the fear of using our voice has allowed these people of questionable character to come into power positions, and yet, the power to change lies within each of us. Disturbing research is coming from the National Association of Scholars (NAS, 2010) that show up to 70% of all American youth involved in sports drop out by age 13. Wait for it. Let me say this again. 7 out of 10 kids stop playing sports by age 13. Assuming this research is correct, it's a dis-service we are providing not only to the youth, but to sports as well.

Now that the issue is out in front of all of us, lets talk solutions.

• Everyone needs to play. Put them all in during the first half, and at every possible spot and position. Second half, sure, play the athletes in their chosen position and be a little more competitive. 
• Reward two things: playing hard and making good choices. Process at early ages are more important then results. 
• Make it fun. 
• Practice, practice, and more practice. Think of it this way: in a game of basketball, only 1 person out of 10 is touching a ball for the entire duration of the game. During practice, everyone gets a ball and can work on skill development while using the equipment. Last thought on practicing: use this ratio:1 hour of competition for every 10 hours of practice. 
• Have a long term plan. It hurts me to say that our Canadian neighbors to the north are kicking our butts in long term planning for sports. The webpage http://www.canadiansportforlife.ca/ is awesome. With resources for parents, coaches, and athletes, this site should be a go to for everyone involved with youth sports. 

So there you go. Some thoughts on how to turn this back around, I hope this is going to start some conversations.

New Year. New Ideas

Now that the holiday hangover has been shaken off and the media is bombarding its viewers with the much needed call to action to lose the weight gained over the last six weeks of sloth and beautiful, tasty, decadent gluttony, people are flocking in mass to the solutions of their agony: be it a diet center or to the neighborhood gym (that luckily dropped their joiners fee if you sign up for automatic billing!). Before you get set up and invest in all the latest gear and gadgets, here is one question for you: How long do you plan on doing this for?

A simple question; I have science on my side for asking it. When psychologists studied indicators to predict success, they looked at a wide variety of information. Of all the environmental, genetic, social, economic, mental, emotional, and psychological factors researched, the one that had the highest correlation with success was what I just asked you: the question about duration was more significant than money, genetics, or where you live. The power of your mind will determine how far you can go in life. So once again: How long do you plan on doing this for? Weeks? Months? Years? The rest of your life? According to their research, the longer you foresee yourself doing whatever, the more likely you are to be successful. 

All of this gives you a sense of scale for your activity. A long time ago, I decided on lifting heavy ass weight until people have to lift my heavy ass coffin. I understand that life gets in the way like it did a few weeks back with travel to see family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So when it comes to missing a lift or two, or having to improvise with what is available, that's OK. Yes, the first couple lifts back in your normal routine feel off, but it comes back fast.  

So arm yourself with the most powerful weapon you have. You mind. Get it right and take a good hard look at yourself and ask the important question. How long are you planning on doing this for?

Here's Looking at You Kid

Inspiration hits at weird times. Weeks have passed and an unfinished draft has gone from my shitty first draft, to now its still shitty eleventh draft. It's just stuck, you know. Where your brain knows exactly what it wants to say, but the mouth (or fingers in my case) just are not working. I've become the "Studdering Stanley" of the keyboard.

Then, out of the blue today, while making some small talk with some athletes, I ask the question, " What's your favorite movie of all time?"  Big, wide open, ambiguous question. It's hard, no doubt. But one movie, that's all you get. To my surprise, not one movie named was more than 10 years older than the person answering the question.

Firmly rooted in the classics with many aspects of life, yet appreciating contemporary work, this lack of knowledge from a younger generation is something I've witnessed universally with the athletes I work with. It is safe to say, if they are not well versed with their entertainment, they are unaware of some of the classics in other areas of life.

Which is a shame for regardless of genre.  Those brave souls who stand on the edge pushing creativity and madness are like anyone who makes anything worthwhile. Each one of them shares a deep ferocious love in their heart for the work of their predecessors. Without that respect, you forget where you came from and ultimately lose touch with your own humanity.

If the lesson in movies holds true to other aspects, then this is not a definitive list of what movies to watch, but a different way to spend some time. With a book. I am not talking about a work of fiction (although thirty minutes before bed will help shut your brain off and get some restful sleep), but a book that provides an education. Personally, I break my books down into ones that will be a direct benefit (physiology, training theory, and the like) to the profession and the indirect ones (management, people skills).

These are in no particular order and I am limiting it to 3 in each category. Whether or not you agree with these that's fine. Just do me a favor and read it (all can be picked up for free at most libraries)  before you knock it.

Work Books:

• Starting Strength. Mark Rippetoe's manual that teaches the how to move weight for the big lifts. If you are going to lift and want results, this is the best place to start at. 
• Supertraining.  Lets put it this way. You know the guy in the gym that tells you about the training "secret" from Russia, Bulgaria, or East Germany?  Dr. Yuri Verkhonshansky and Dr. Mel Siff are the two guys that figured out that secret and then wrote this book. They have been cited in more strength research than anyone in history and their information is the leading cause of wet dreams among strength coaches. 
• The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. The expansive collection by the Oak (if you don't know, that is Arnold Schwarzenegger) is more than just pictures and the fluff lifting workouts in the bodybuilding magazines. Everything is covered from nutrition, workouts, sports psychology, recovery, and weightlifting/body building history. It was my first training book, and is still a go to once a year to look at all the new ideas that Arnold talked about back in the 80's.

Personal Development Books:

• How to Win Friends and Influence People. OK, OK. Dale Carnegie (not as in the steel ultra billionaire family) published this in 1936 which makes some of the the wording and subject matter a little outdated, I'll give you that. But if you ever plan on working with people, or try an impress a girl, read this. Not only will you get more out of your interactions with other people, but you'll generally become a person people want to be around. 
• The Game: Penetrating the secret society of pick up artists. When my wife (then girlfriend) found me reading this book, she went out back cut a switch of pine and beat me with it. Well, not quite, but it makes for a great story.  Neil Strauss doesn't directly provide a "how to" script so you can pick up women, bit connect the dots. For all of you who are in a happy and monogamous relationship, like I am, this book still finds way for you to practice talking to strangers and be more charismatic. If you are ever going to have to make a cold sale or recruit athletes, memorize this book.
• The Four Hour Work Week. Tim Ferris is like TC Fletcher. They are guys you never heard of, but should have. Originally picked this one up because I was pissed about my job, then realized this was basically a book about hacking your life and managing time, work expectations, and to live by doing what you enjoy. My approach to work has been different ever since. 

Here is a bonus cross-over book. Happy Halloween!

• Make the Big Time Where You Are At. This one is written by a legendary football coach for a small D3 school, Frosty Westering. 

So there it is. Some classics, some more contemporary. All will improve your skills. Read, eat, lift, sleep, and try something new. 

The Three R's of the Weightroom

Spending over 60 hours a week surrounded by college athletes has given me a unique perspective on life. Every freshmen who crosses the threshold into the weight room looks the same every year: wide eyed, and  ready to pee a little if I look at them the wrong way. As the years go by, workout clothes are still the standard shorts, t-shirt and sweats. Sure, the fabric has changed from cotton to Dri-fit, and the length of the shorts sway from "so short my Grandma will blush" to the "4 sizes to big" extremes as the fashion demigods declare, but I don't notice the youthful appearances nor experience the shock of "they look like babies" as much as friends and family who work outside of the educational systems experience. Freshmen just look like they always do.

Every once in a while I become Icarus and realize only too late and much to my dismay, the protective wax of has melted from my wings and I am headed into the abyss. Except this is not a Greek myth and my physical well being is not at risk, just my mental health. I drown in the realization that I am old (sort of) and that time has marched on.

This happened the other day when I was talking to some people about the 3 R's of education, or at least what they were when I was going to middle and high school. Reading. Writing. Arithmetic (otherwise known as math). The silence that followed made me feel that I could have been talking about hitching up old Betty to the carriage, going to my one room school. They had no frame of reference to what I was talking about. Those three things that were drilled into my head as the attributes that every successful high school graduate needed to master. And if those three academic standards were unknown, what can I expect them to know about workouts?

Now I get to have my Morphius moment. I offer them a choice: the truth, nothing more. Chose the red or blue pill. Do you want to choose between embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality or the blissful ignorance of illusion. The truth, nothing more.

The red pill: My lessons of the 3 R's of workouts: Read. Record. Results. The blue pill: belief that just because you are tired or you really feel "it" then you just had a great workout.

 I recently experimented with intermittent fasting (IF). I read as much information I could get my hands on, talked with people that tried it themselves, and understood the science behind most of the IF protocol. I gave it four long weeks of calorie restriction and extreme exercise bouts lasting 45 minutes with my heart rate between 180 and 210 beats per minute for 4 days a week. The science predicted that I should have averaged about 1 pound of weight loss a day ( I was hoping for mostly body fat, not just total body weight). Application of the IF concept seems to have a sense of humor. Not only did I gain weight (5 pounds), but my skin fold body fat analysis went up 10 millimeters. Bad news. I ate less, worked out harder and got fatter.

Now, I am a man of science. Fourth generation engineer, to-boot. Of the many metrics I observed, sadly the only one that showed any improvement was my resting heart rate came down to 48 beats per minute from its starting point of 51. Everything I measured was worse. I was sleeping more and felt worse after waking up. Mental stress levels increased, productivity at work decreased, constantly irritated (family and friends stayed away), all jumps were lower, strength levels were down, perceived difficulty for everything was significantly higher, soreness was through the roof, and for the first time in 20+ years of working out I did not look forward to my lift.

Granted we all have bad days from time to time. This was different. Going back into my earliest records from the mid 1990's, there was never a period of time like this before. I am not saying that IF is good or bad, just that it was not right for me. And that is what is called making an evidence based decision. It comes down to the fact that you are part of an experiment of one, and if things are not working for you, then figure out what will.

That is were the 3 R's come together. Read good information and see what is working for other people and how they are doing it. By the way, good information is more then doing a search on Google or asking the biggest guy in the gym. Find someone who has been lifting longer than you and have read more than the lastest issue of Muscle and Fitness. Usually people with these acronyms after their name are a good place to start: C.S.C.S., M.S., M.E.d., R.D., or A.C.S.M.-H.F.S. All of those means that they have had some formal education and have passed a nationally recognized certification. Anyone with those credentials can point you in a good direction for more information.

Once you have an idea of what you want to try, you have to find ways to measure changes. Record things that are important like body weight, body fat percentage, strength levels, stress levels, quality of sleep, duration of sleep, social enjoyment, and perceived difficulty are my go-to measures. Find out what is important to you and measure it. And don't think that you need to look like a lab tech either. For most of my information I just write down in my workout book with a scale of 1-5. Where 1 is kick ass and 5 is like I got beat like I stole something. This way you can quickly draw a connection between what you are trying and how that is effecting your workout.

Last thing. Results are what we are all after. Self-experimentation is something that I encourage people to try, but never at the cost of sacrificing your goal. Using results to make decisions is a sane way to improve during the insanity of working out. You have witnessed the insanity yourself. Think of the same guy/girl that comes to the gym, does the same workout time and time again and is complaining at the drinking fountain that they never seem to progress. Insanity at its finest. Use results to guide your decisions, just understand that you need a solid two weeks of data before you should make any changes. The body can be slow to respond, so give it time to adjust.

There is the door, but you have to make the choice to walk through it. Understand that if you do, be ready for some heartache. The realization that after an experiment you got worse, hurts. Bad. It's not ever easy, but neither is life. And yes, there are times when you wonder why didn't I take the BLUE pill. Then there are the other times that you understand how everything fits together, which makes it well worth the pain.

Weightloss as part of the yearly plan?

After seeing some pictures after the WMG, I am seeing too much of me, if you know what I mean. Not that I'll cut down to the next weight class, but the old singlet was a little too round in the middle. It is time to lose some of the extra weight, but how to do it and not compromise any strength and power gains that have  been made over the last year? Once the training year starts back up, the first four weeks are going to be spent developing some work capacity and it should be just as good of time as any to experiment with some fat loss ideas.

For the fast version. Work capacity or general preparatory phase (GPP) training is just flat out hard ass work. The typical time range for improving GPP is two to three weeks, but for some longer periods of inactivity, the GPP can be extended. The blessing and the curse about this time of training is the weight of the bar does not look all that impressive: only 40%-65% of your max weight, but while you are lighter in resistance, you make up for it in reps and sets. The way I set up GPP workouts are 12 minute long circuit style blocks where you have prime movement lift with resistance, followed by a active recovery static abdominal bracing activity, a body weight movement lift, then end with a grip exercise. So Monday, my first block will look like: back squats x10 at 50%1RM, 25 seconds of a forward bridge (or plank), 25 seconds of up/downs, and then 25 seconds of bar hangs. Sure, it doesn't look all that bad, but let me put it in this context: During my 12 minutes the goal is 6-8 cycles, which would put me at roughly 22,000 pounds moved just on the back squat. If you include moving my body weight on the squats and up/downs then we are talking about an additional 1,440,000 pounds or around 730 tons moved in 12 minutes. To compare, during the hardest day of a "peaking" workout, most people will not even see 4,000 pounds moved. Don't forget, 730 tons is just from the first of three training blocks.

These GPP style workouts provide very little training stimulus to improve muscular strength of power development as you are just not moving enough weight or moving with enough speed so have truly significant changes. GPP workouts do provide a very significant stimulus for increasing aerobic capacity, and with some college athletes I have wired with heart rate monitors, they were ranging between 165-200 beats per minute for 45 minutes, and that is something you just cannot duplicate with any treadmill. In addition to the aerobic benefit, the increased strength to the tendons and ligaments of the body cannot be overlooked. Due to the natural way those connective tissues respond, it takes a massive amount of work to illicit any change in their elastic and plastic natures.

So that is the style of workouts I am starting off the training year with. If you think that reminds you of  a typical CrossFit workout, well it should. For the most part their Workout Of the Day (WOD) are usually just a GPP style workout. And for the portion of the population who do not have any specific training goals other than to look better naked, this is just fine for them with some improvements in strength and overall fitness added in for good measure. For the other part of the population that want to compete in any team or individual sports, where very specific needs of strength, power, and conditioning need to be covered, all I'll say is they will not reach their fullest potential if all they use are GPP workouts.

But exercise is just one part of the cycle of fat loss, we have to cover the nutrition as well. Dr. Zatsiorsky discusses the Energetic Theory of Hypertrophy and talks about how the body uses its calories for one of two activities: either mechanical work or tissue repair, which means that once enough work has been done to stimulate the body, then we need extra energy to have the body repair itself. If you reverse this principle and keep in mind the body's first goal is to repair itself, and if we can provide enough energy through food for the repair process any extra mechanical work that needs to be performed has to be  taken from the body's fat stores. But which is the best way of going about this?

Looking at the work of Dr. Beradri and his experiments with intermittent fasting (precisionnutrition.com) and the success Martin Rooney and his crew have had with this at Training For Warriors (trainingforwarriors.com), it looks like this is right up my alley. With any new idea, the first reaction is that of rejection and disgust, and the intermittent fasting concept has had plenty of that. The main idea that people take offense to is that the window for eating is reduced from the normal 14-16 waking hours, to 8-12 hours. Basically once you wake and have some sort of tea or coffee, then start your standard hydration schedule, but you do not get any calories until after a noon workout, which is followed by regular eating over the course of the day with selections of vegetables, legumes, and protein very comparable to Adkins, South Beach, or Paleo-style food choices. While these results have had some anecdotal evidence to support the success claims, there has not been any formal research that I know of yet. Also keep in mind the over all goal for this: off season weight loss. No competitive athlete should even think about this until after their season has ended and is in good health as determined from their primary care physician.

With two of these plans in place, success is going to be judged by a few measurable goals. First, there is going to be a pre and post event screening. This includes pictures from the frontal and sagittal plane, height, weight, body composition from skin folds, girth measurements at various points across the body, resting heart rate, blood pressure, and blood work done from my doc. In addition, there will be daily measurements of body weight, stress levels, neurological readiness, sleep patterns, and rate of perceived exertion from the workouts. Yes, it is a lot of information and data, but remember that you cannot make educated decisions without it!

Not enough with out the medal...

Looking back on my time at the World Master Games it has been unlike anything I have experienced before and by far it has made me a better person because of it. From all of the travel, new faces, different customs and struggle to communicate at times, the opportunity to not only travel but to compete for my homeland on a world stage can leave you humbly voiceless when confronted with the immense responsibility of being an ambassador for your country.

Make no mistake about it, this trip was founded under the idea that at the medal ceremony the Star Spangled Banner would be played. And it was. The best lifter that day was an American, just not me. Strangely, that is something that I am at peace with, Dominic had a nice day lifting and I knew to beat him I would have to be nearly flawless which I was not, but am proud of my performance none the less. The big Swede Eric, had a great battle with me for second place when when he finished his last lift to edge me out of the silver by 1 kilogram. I truly am happy for the both of those two and thankful for the chance to have competed against such fine people.

I know my wife had concerns about my mood after the meet. Not performing well and being edged out from second would have but me in a dark place for a day or two a few years back. Something is different now, and has been for a while. Being an athlete is something that was a large part on my self-identity since I started playing organized sports decades ago, and that is something that will continue to be a way that I identify myself for a long time.  But the liberating part of this is that I am no longer bound to what my total lift was, or what place I took, or even how much I can bench. For as many hours I spend in the gym training and the amount of literature I review to learn (or rediscover) some training information, that is not solely who I am.

Years back when the goal of working out was to get better at football and to help out with the ladies, it was all about my ego. Yes t-shirts were bought just a little too small, sleeves were either rolled tight or removed to show off the time I spent working on developing my chest and arms. Slowly that changed. Clothes will always not quite fit right as anyone who has spent the majority of their life lifting heaving things will tell you, but I cannot ever remember the last time I put on a sleeveless shirt or actively showed off for anyone but to impress my wife. Lifting and competing is something that I do, not who I am.

One of the great parts of my profession is that I get to be constantly surrounded by people like me. People with the burning desire to be at their absolute best. People, who understand the time and sacrifice it takes to bend reality to their goals. People, whom I try to reach and help them mature mentally faster than what it took me. People, that sometimes don't understand the lesson until later down the road. But ultimately that is why I do this. Trying to pass on the information that has cost me time, frustrations, success, and failures so that others can learn from those lessons.

It's been a long path, but finally here I am. With the amount of time and energy that is invested, expect some anger and disappointment when it goes poorly. And trying to reassure that "It is just a game"  or "just a lift" will never work for people like me. We understand that to the novice spectator they will become critics about why we become emotional about the loss. Just give us some time to process what happened and more importantly why it occurred. It was a specific choice to accept my lackluster performance, and yes I could have just shut down and let the rest of my trip be ruined, but there was so much out there that I would have missed.

That night at the banquet I ate with a former Iranian Olympian who has immigrated to Great Brittan. We saw liter after liter of vodka magically appear and disappear from a table of Russians. I talked training schedules with a contingency of Swedes. The owner of the restaurant introduced me to his son, since the 8 year old has only ever seen an American on TV or a movie. But the highlight of the night was the singing. In this outdoor patio in the foothills of the Alps were competitors and their families representing 15 counties from all over the world, and slowly the Europeans started singing their country's anthems. While each one was performed with unwavering pride, the one old Italian man took the night. The video is only a reflection of what experiencing this in person was like, but needed to be shared.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IayOfq4GpEU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

All of those experience could have been missed if not for one thing. Waiting for winning a medal as means to justify and give meaning to ones life, there are going to be countless empty and lonely moments. Even though it is comforting to be recognized for your work: If you are not enough without the medal, you'll never be enough with it.