In the Lab – High School Hockey Case Study
I had a high school athlete this summer who made some incredible improvements. Started with an EUR assessment and found he was fairly symmetrical, 40.2cm compared to 39.6cm (EUR of 1.01). Pretty clear that the lowest hanging fruit to increase eccentric strength. The plan was to attack with Eccentric loading all summer. We had three […]
In The Lab – Applying Strength Deficit to Mixed Sports
This is a common thread I get with Strength Deficit: How do I apply Strength Deficit to: Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, Lacrosse, Hockey? It’s a tough question cause the book is organized to program for sports with very clear needs. An important question we tried to answer based on needs was How much space does the […]
In the Lab – Deceleration Training Part II
In Part I, I wanted to discuss that targeted deceleration training is not a good use of time. The shortened version of that is based on how isolated declaration training does not correspond to open environments. Isolated deceleration drills, such as working on stopping, may not be practical, but understanding the dynamics from a hardware […]
In the Lab – Deceleration Training Part I
Isolated deceleration training is not a good use of time I often think of the benefit of deceleration training, which, if I am being honest, I have always struggled to see the value. Part of the issue is that I struggle to fit in. I am not even sure I value the concept of isolated […]
In the Lab – When and What with Isometrics
One area I think a lot about is the usage of yielding versus overcoming isometrics. In this blog post, let’s break down when and what we should do when deciding the usage of either yielding or overcoming. First question: when? Yielding Isometrics are best for: Muscular endurance → Builds time-under-tension capacity. Joint stabilization → Teaches […]
In the Lab – Vector Based Training
Vector-based training is an underrated aspect of program design. We often get locked into a muscle group or movement pattern-based training splits, but what is usually lost is the impact on controlling and producing force in a specific direction, AKA vectors such as horizontal, vertical, and rotational. Lower Body Generally, we can think of knee-dominant […]
In the Lab – Nicotine, A Strength Coach’s Guide
Disclaimer: I have been well ahead of the curve with Nicotine as a stimulant and cognition-boosting aid. I have receipts too. The first Muscle Mentorship in 2017, previously known as Muscle Camp until that name was used elsewhere, I advocated for nicotine use. I first started nicotine for long drives for my internships. I remember […]
At the Lab – Beyond Barbell Seminar
We just finished! I wanted to blog my experience while it is fresh in my mind. We had an intimate group of coaches come in to learn at Paul Cater’s gym The Lab in Monterey California. We aimed to discuss how to implement flywheel, conical, and pneumatic resistance with clients and athletes. You can probably […]
In the Lab: Eccentric Focus Supplement Protocol
Supplement Protocol Pre WO LPT BPC 157 – 500mcg Phosphatidic Acid – 1500mg Collagen – 15g Intra WO Essential Amino Acids Creatine Post WO Beef Protein UCAN Let’s talk about eccentric training and nutrition. Too often we bifurcate nutrition and training as it is a good thing. The detachment of what we are doing peri-workout […]
In the Lab The Difference Between Strength Deficit and EUR
A common question I hear is whether or not the Strength Deficit (SD) is the same as the Eccentric Utilization Ratio (EUR). For context, they both are the same test, which includes comparing the Counter Movement Jump (CMJ) to the Non-Counter Movement Jump (NCMJ) Ratio, but the difference is the decision we make is what […]