What is included in the training manual:

The book is a 16 week training program. So there is no “science” or much writing. Just an outline of how to use it and exercise descriptions, how to implement the running program. A brief touch on the training blocks and the programming of the plyos. Etc…

I thought about writing about the science but decided against it. I have an effective program that you can use straight away. If you want the science read Verkhoshansky’s work. Read the inno-sport work. Ask me questions here Smile

It includes mobility, core, strength, power, speed, plyos, and agility work

It is four 4 week blocks.

Block 1 is GPP and movement patterns. All the stuff I write about on here.

Block 2-4 is Maximal Strength, Transition, Power/speed

It is an extended version of the 10 week program we use with our NFL prospects. So selling it could cost me $ in the long run. I mean Blocks 2-4 are the same program. Block 3/Transition has been extended.

Why is it longer?

The 10 week program is set up for peaking at the combines and various pro days. We are on a limited schedule. With this plan I am not limited by artificial time constraints so it was upgraded into the “ideal” training scenario. As if those exist.

The NFL program has been unbelievably successful. All the numbers quoted in the store are real. It just took a bit of time to clean the program up and sell it.

Here is another piece of info: everyone who weighed 245lbs or less that has gone through the program jumped 37″ or better

In the past two years, only one guy who has gone through the program did not get picked up by a professional team.

The guys that completed the program liked the results so much that they actually still perform the workouts during their off season.

The movements center on the basics and there are no olympic lifts. Our NFL guys don’t do them so they were not included. The only special equipment needed is a place to do glute ham raises. It is possible to substitute the “natural” glute ham raise in it’s place.

It includes a ton of conditioning and agility drills. I also touch on my changing direction philosophy so that you can focus on some of the key aspects for improving game speed.

Finally I am available for support so purchasers can feel free to email me, or post questions on the forums. I will make myself available.

Sorry for the long absence. I have been extremely busy with a new project (and getting married and the honeymoon).

I recently published my first e-book. Actually it is a 16 week periodized training program. It includes exercise descriptions, workouts, strength, speed, agility, plyometrics, flexibility, and conditioning, Everything needed for success on the athletic field.

Some results:

On out beta version which was only 10 weeks we had:

Everyone add 6 inches to their verts
One guy jumped out of a pool
Everyone dropped .5 sec off of their 40
One 235lb linebacker went from a 4.35 Pro 20 shuttle to a 4.03
Two linebackers ran sub 4.1 40’s
One athlete ran a 10.54 100m in competition!
One athlete went from a 5.2 sec hand timed 40 to a 4.7 on a LASER

If you want improved performance then purchase this training program!!

This is a program aimed at attacking athletes weaknesses (poor hip extension, bad feet, improper movement patterns, poor core strength). This IS NOT a book on theory!! This is a 16 week program

It can be found here

This is an interview I conducted with Jeremy Layport.  He is a friend of mine and one hell of a coach.  He is a co-worker at San Jose State University.

EA: First tell everyone a bit about who you are:

JL: Well Alex, as you know I’m an assistant strength and conditioning coach at San Jose State University who primarily works with Baseball, Softball, Water Polo, M. Golf, and Volleyball. I also assist with the football team and whatever other sport needs extra assistance.

EA: Can you outline your training philosophy for the readers?

JL: I can sum up my training philosophy as teaching correct movement patterns, then basically get people as strong as possible, once that’s accomplished start to get them as fast as possible. Rinse and repeat as much as necessary. Progress from a very basic program to slowly adding in more and more complex/ advanced versions of exercises. Try to set up a process somewhat like the Russian PASM model. I’m not into size for the sake of size or anything with out purpose. Simple to complex, strong to fast…

EA: You have talked about the development of a PASM within college strength and conditioning field. Would you mind discussing the concept and provide a general outline of how this would look?

JL: Well Alex, as you and I have discussed on numerous occasions, being at a low level Div I school, we get a lot of upper and lower caliber athletes that seem to have a lot of dis-function when they come in. It seems like programs always want to get rush the teaching aspect and get everyone integraded into the system as soon as possible. Some head coaches are extremely concerned with “building the camaraderie” aspect of the physical training experience and the instruction suffers from this. I whole heartedly agree with statement’s I’ve read from DB (Inno Sport) and Dr. Ivo (WannaGetFast) that I’d rather teach someone for one year correctly and train for three then constantly fixing poor technique for four years and never making good gains in performance. Along with the PASM model I think some sort of movement and posture assessment screening for performance and function should run hand and hand with one another. The PASM model would run general to specific as almost all athletes coming in need to get much better at the basics.

• 1st year would consist and basically “Core” work, glute activation, mobility work and teach 5-6 fundamental movement patterns. Start with teaching the 5-6 movement using Isometrics to get the athlete to “feel” the correct muscles working with body weight only. Progress to bar work, then start Iso-mio and finish with Plio-Iso-Mio work. Add in some RFI work as in DBs model and maybe light, simple Altitude landing work.

• 2nd year work ME, DE work teach CAT and  chain work. Add some slightly more advanced variations of the basic 5-6 movements. More Altitude landings and some Depth Jumps.

• 3rd year work ME, DE work add in REA work band work. Add some slightly more advanced variations of the basic 5-6 movements.

• 4th year add in AMT work.

Keep all freshmen and sophomores in all sports together in there respective blocks, work juniors and seniors together during team times.

EA: Why do you think such a model has not been implemented

JL: This type of model has been implemented or at least variations of PASM at some schools. Elite fitness ran an article that Stanford’s football program was doing a varition of this that was more of a West Side BB templet. If people aren’t doing something like this I assume, because it’s not what they’re accustomed to doing. It might be more work at first, but in the long run I think athletes would build a better foundation to build off of and performance would pyramid up from there, then random “gimmicky” off again on again programs.

EA: You use kettlebells in your programming. Would you mind discussing how they are implemented?

JL: The Kettlebell is a great tool we use at San Jose State. We’ve kind of “re-tooled” the traditional swing to be a much higher hip-hinge swing that ends up being like a reactive RDL (Romanian Deadlift). We don’t go very heavy and emphasize speed more then weight. We get strong with other typical pulling movements, but the kettlebells ballistically load our hips and if they’re performed fast enough they have a plyometric effect as the kettlebell eccentrically loads the hips. A part from that the kettlebell has a nasty cardiovascular effect unlike anything I’ve ever experienced that we’ll use for conditioning. Kettlebell snatches are basically backward throws so most of the throwing athletes I work with get a nice dose of them to counter all the forward throwing motions they’re doing. The RKC system has been the biggest benefit from the kettlebells as everything you learn when you become an RKC is related to correct movement. Mike Robinson, who writes for T-Mag some times, has a great article he just wrote about his experience at his RKC weekend that reiterates this point really well. Everything I’ve learned from the kettlebell has leaked into every aspect of my training.

EA: Are there any myths, trends, or mistakes in the field that drive you nuts?

JL: The thing that drives me nuts right now is the big crossfit kick… The lack of technique and train to puke mentality of the group is retarded. The crazy thing is I actually like the concept of cross disciplinary style of training (for general populations). It seems like the problem is there doesn’t seem to be any progressions, it just throwing people into the mix of very complex movements, push through fatigue even if it compromises form or safety. I’ve seen there periodization before, but it seems like no one actually follows it. Its just a bunch of workouts to make you puke. This has no place in the training of athletes in my mind.

EA: When you evaluate an athlete what are the most significant problems they have when coming to you and how do you fix the problem?

JL: It seems to be a myriad of problems like lumbo-pelvic stability, glute dysfunction, quad-dominance and in some cases the upper cross syndrome. I’ve recently been using a movement assessment with the volleyball team. After implementing the wannagetfast core DVD Non-tripod/ Deadbug progression, Prone Glute bridge progression, Chair Progression, along with a planking progression all there scores went up 2-3 points in one month. Also implemented Jay Schroeder’s ISO extreme lunge (5min hold) that seemed to really help as well.

EA: If you had one piece of training advice for athletes what would it be?

JL: Continue to learn about training… Also learn to feel the movement…

EA: What does your current workout look like and why is it set up that way?

JL: I played football in college and since then have been oly lifting for about 6 years.

After meeting you, and introducing me to the Inno-sport system, I’ve dumped the Oly training and focusing more on some performance goals (like get my vert up). All the squatting and cleaning has made me pretty quad dominant my self, so I’ve been working straight glute work. I’ve been doing Chris K’s Power Glute Block for about 4-5 weeks now and loving it. I need a lot of rate work.

EA: You’ve recently stated that you’ve never wanted to be that “core” guy but now you get it. Would you please elaborate on that statement?

JL: I used to think that teaching athletes how to brace and have them squat a deadlift was enough to get the job done. It worked for me, but these kids today have all sorts of issues and a deadbug is an extremely difficult exercise for a lot of athletes to accomplish properly. Most don’t even do a push up properly so taking time to truly teach them how to stabilize their pelvis using there abdominals and performing a rib lock while performing any movement is essential to teaching correct movement patterns. If the abs don’t function neither can the glutes and if the glutes don’t function the works being performed by the lower back and hamstrings. Getting proper functioning abdominals and glutes not only will prevent injury it will increase performance. It’s the foundation which anything else will be built. Athletes these days aren’t developing this qualities while they play video games and watch tv.

EA: You’ve also begun implementing the goblet squat and front squat before introducing the back squat.  What is your rationale behind this progression?

JL: The RKC got into implementing the goblet squat through Dan John as a mobility drill to help unlock the hips. As a staff we were doing sumo deads with kbs to unlock there hips prior to squatting and the athletes didn’t pay attention to proper back posture and were rounding often, so by switching to the goblet squat, the athletes are front load a kb which helps engage the abdominals and promotes an open chest and long spine that we want. It unlocks the hips and greases the groove to get them down lower in there squats. I’ve heard Boyle talk about the F.Squat for a while, but I always just thought get it on there back and use bigger weight! When this happens, position, form and depth all suffer! F. Squat promote a longer upright spine position that I want my athletes to use more. If you’ve ever noticed too that people that struggle with depth in a back squat get better with Front Squats so it’s solving a myriad of problems. I get it Mike.

EA: Thank you for doing this and I am sure the readers will find this very informative.

JL: Thank you Alex

I’m in the process of digging up some old gems. This article is by Dan Fichter from wannagetfast.com and originally appeared on inno-sport.net. Enjoy!

It never fails in every weight room across the country that I have the opportunity to visit, I see terrible posture and position. In the weight room, on the track, or just moving around in basic movement patterns, position dictates everything! From standing as straight as possible to maintain the normal curves in your spine to making sure you use the proper lifting technique to avoid injury. Position and posture might be the most under coached skills in performance training.

Do you coach position and posture in every task in the weight room and on the track? The quickest way to see results hit a plateau is to stop coaching position and posture. With Inertial training we focus everything we do around holding positions and having perfect posture. Correct posture helps the body let go of huge amounts of energy. When the body begins to fatigue the brain will try to convince the body that form and/or posture is not essential. If the shoulders slump or shrug while throwing a baseball in the ninth inning or your hip height drops in a 100 meter sprint, your performance will drastically change in a negative way. All position changes will affect your bodies ability to produce force. Let’s take the bench press for an example. Always video tape everything so you can evaluate position and where in the lift it might break down. Monitor position during each rep. Being able to bench for reps is being able to maintain correct position so that the force can be applied correctly and efficiently. The basic position for this for a quick example is no different than what most experts preach. Shoulders down toward the hips, squeeze the bench with the shoulder blades, chin on the chest without raising the head off the bench, elbows at 45 degrees, lower arms perpendicular to the ground, rigid wrist, squeeze the glutes tight, lower legs perpendicular to the ground, feet driving through the floor. The key becomes to watch the position each and every rep. Can you keep this position during the eccentric movement? Can you hold this position during the concentric part of the movement? And, most importantly when heavy loads or top speed is called upon can you hold this position?

Potential performance drops and or stale mates can most always be traced back to position. This might be the best value of Isometric work in the weight room. It teaches proper position. Forget the firing pattern dilemma, forget about specificity, and just think about position. Most young athletes don’t understand parallel or chest up and but back in the squat yet often times we want them to go right into down and up movements in these exercises. Even worse yet is when some coaches have their young athletes do speed reps. If you cannot maintain proper position at slower speeds or lighter weight, how do you think you might make out with heavier weights and higher velocities?? If you can’t create the position and hold perfect posture, you can’t create ultimate force. Let them feel the musculature being worked before the movement is added. Some are flat out not strong enough to hold themselves in the correct position. Either way, it’s about getting into that position and holding it. The first thing we do at my facility is talk and go through position work. No exceptions to the rule! Matter of fact, I like younger kids to be able to hold these positions for longer periods to show me their strength with the desired musculature.

The monkey brain is always working in your body. What is the monkey brain? It is the essence of our survival instincts. Freezing with fear is fine and good when you are a caveman and do not want to be seen by a tiger ready to eat you, but it doesn’t serve us very well when driving a car at 70 mph and being confronted with an eminent accident. When confronted with fear or stress (emotional or physical) we will adopt postures that are fine for lateral fleeing motions but not so good for forward assault. When talking with the creator of the Inertial Exercise Trainer, Steve Davison, here is what he had to say about position. “When under stress, your stance will widen and your head will stick out forward of the acromiom. This totally changes our core’s ability to perform the movements necessary to support vestibular balance in the human body. As a result, when performing athletics in a less than optimal posture (but emotionally comfortable) we substitute muscle activation inefficient to our bodies design performance criteria.” The cure for this folks is to focus on being pretty while running and or training. In a fatigued state train with perfect posture. Therefore, when fatigued in competition the body will adopt muscle activation efficient to our design performance criteria. The result………fatigue equals proper posture instead of the reverse. And, muscle activation efficient to our bodies design performance criteria will result in the elimination of injury as a substitute. We are in essence rewiring your neural system. Steve Davison goes on to say, “The human form will not exert any force greater than its ability to preserve its balance. Hence, head alignment with the line of the back and body core are essential in communicating with the vestibular system the orientation and energy flow of the body while in motion.”
With the inertial machine the focus as you know from the last article is on turning on musculature at the proper time in the movement. The underlying focus is always on posture. The initial preparation is to be able to hold your body in position to utilize the preferred muscles at the right time, making the correct type of contraction, and of course being able to relax these contractions (antagonist) to the same intensity and velocity as the contraction. Inertial training can teach you these things and more!!! So with out further a do, get out there and get into position!!!

Distance Running
I have done a ton of research on strength training methods for distance runners. It appears that plyometrics and maximal strength training are the keys to improving running economy and running performance. This fly’s in the face of the common dogma of long duration sets in a futile attempt to meet the energy system requirements of endurance athletes with strength training. The two are diametrically opposed, however from a neuromuscular standpoint strength training and plyometrics improve running economy which has been called the critical factor in distance running performance. It may be best to allow the sport coaches to handle the energy system development and let the strength coaches develop running economy.
My simple philosophy for distance athletes:
1.Proper recruitment
2.Maximal strength
3.Complex training
4.Plyometrics

Welcome to the new site of Evolutionary Athletics.

Evolutionary Athletics is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Our vision is clear:

Take sports performance to a higher level.

To do this we have a simple, results based, philosophy:

1. Teach the body how to move properly
2. Improve the body’s ability to maintain proper athletic position
3. Improve the bodies ability to produce force
4. Teach the body how to produce force rapidly
5. Improve specific work capacity

We are proud of our work with DT Jarron Gilbert from SJSU. First, and foremost, Gilly is a hell of a football player.  In 2008 he lead the nation in tackles for loss and won Co-WAC defensive player of the year.   He is a projected NFL Draft pick, youtube.com sensation,  and all around great guy.  Additionally he has been featured on ESPN.

Here is the clip that generated the stir:

Kids remember, jumping out of a pool is fun but it doesn’t mean you are a great football player. Leading the nation in tackles for loss does.

Here is another clip of Gilly showing his incredible strength:

“The techniques Alex and Evolutionary Athletics taught me helped me have a great senior season and pushed me one step closer to achieving my dream.  Playing in the NFL.” – Jarron Gilbert

We are proud to announce that we will be sharing our cutting edge techniques with the rest of the South San Francisco Bay Area.  Yes, we will share the same methods that helped Jarron lead the nation in tackles for loss.

Visit the speed camp page for more details.

Alex

This is another of Ed Kriscunas’ special cars. It is a 1984 Carrera Coupe with only 14221 miles. Ed is going to send me all the details and I will add the information to this post.

Ed wrote -

“1984 911 Carrera, Color-Pewter Metallic, European seat upholstery in  Black cloth with thin pinstripe. European Spec – Approx. 1″ lower and 30 HP more than US spec car. After a 2 year hunt for a low mileage 911, found this 911 over 15 years ago less than 5 miles from my home in Pittsburgh PA. Previously owned by an IBM executive who traveled all the time and had no time to use this “special Car”. It still had the original tires on it until 2001 when they were replaced because of age. Very original except for the B&B Stainless steel exhaust added in 2000 (still have original muffler).”

Note: The underside is as clean as the top side.

The beauty is in the details. I wish I could give you some first hand driving impressions but we are leaving the driving to the new owner. I like this car a lot more than I thought I would. You have to see it in person.

EA: Thanks for agreeing to the interview Roger. First tell everyone a bit about who you are.

RN: Thanks for having me, Alex.

As for me, there’s not much to tell. I’m a college student going into my senior year up here in Anchorage, Alaska and am majoring in psychology, though I’m still somewhat up in the air about what I’m going to do when I graduate. I spend my time enjoying the outdoors (for around four months per year), playing video games, reading, hanging out with my friends and family, and of course, obessing over sports science.

I spend far too much time reading, writing, and talking about training, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The human body is an amazing machine and seeing just how far it can be pushed is a compelling quest.

Beyond my interest in the topic and my presence on a number of sports training boards, my only real involvement in the field is that I train as a short sprinter. I picked it up a few years ago at 18 after never having done a sport before and haven’t regretted a moment of it. I’m not fast, far from it as a matter of fact, but I enjoy the learning process and am consistently improving.

EA: Now considering your “lack” of credentials why should we listen to you?

RN: You know, that’s a good question.

I don’t have a degree in the field, or even a certificate, but I’ve spoken regularly with several top professionals and have read dozens of books, hundreds upon hundreds of studies, and tens of thousands of total pages in an effort to learn everything possible. When I find something that interests me, I study it obsessively, and training is no exception. Despite my relative lack of experience and total time spent in the field, I’ve crammed a lot of learning and interaction into a very short period.

I’m also a fairly smart guy, but I wouldn’t want you to take my word for it. ;D

If you were going to listen to me, the one and only one reason you should is because I back up my writing with citations from people who do have doctorates in field. By properly citing the research backing what I write, I can lend my material credibility. From there, it’s just up to me to put everything together.

EA: This is a big question, Can you outline your training philosophy for the readers?

RN: Damn, that is a big one. I don’t think I can get all of it across here, but I’ll give it my best shot. To make things easier, I’ll give an example of how I’d start with someone looking to become a general athlete from scratch. And by a “general athlete” I mean someone who can perform capably in nearly any test of athleticism, feats like swimming or distance running notwithstanding.

The first thing I’d look to do would be to develop active flexibility through every major joint while simultaneously building strength over the entire ROM. To do this I would use a combination of medium duration (20-30 seconds) yielding isometrics done at the end range of the ROM combined with various activation drills. Most of the movements used for isometrics would be unilateral in nature to help teach balance and general proprioceptive ability, and most of the activation drills would focus on teaching the athlete to coordinate the muscles stabilizing the pelvis. The ISOs would be done 2-3 times per week and intra-session volume would be controlled via looking for drops in performance. The activation drills would be done daily. Once the correct firing patterns, range of movement, and general base of strength had been laid, I would start moving into more specific training.

With the base laid, it would be time to expose the system to reactive-based movement, while maintaining strength and activation patterns, of course. We’d start with something low intensity and cyclical, like RFIs, maybe even something as simple as jumping rope. As proficiency allows, we would move to more intense drills, before finally moving from bilateral RFIs to unilateral RFIs. The whole time, relaxation and easy of movement would be stressed. Once the athlete demonstrates proficiency in single leg RFI work, it’s time to start getting into real training.

Having established a healthy ROM, developed strength at all muscle lengths, taught the right muscle activation patterns, and ingrained relaxation and general movement efficiency, it would then be time to start exposing the body to higher levels of force. At this point, I’d start with low, bilateral depth drops into a general athletic stance. As ability allowed, the drop height would gradually increase and then new stances would be used. Other stances could include deep squats, split squats, or single leg depth drops. Once the athlete showed themselves to be able to absorb force in multiple positions and muscle groups, it would then be time to train them to put that force back out. This process is pretty much the same as the above, but instead of depth drops, we’d be using depth jumps. When that progression had run its course and the athlete was now able properly absorb and put back out large amounts of force, it would be time to move into sport-specific training.

At this point, the athlete would already be fairly impressive and would be able to handle actual sporting skills. At this point, training would consist largely of the activities the athlete wanted to perform well in. Sprinting, approach jumps, throwing, and the sporting movements themselves would become the primary training. When results slowed, the athlete would step back and teach their system to absorb more force through depth drops or overload methods and would then come back to their sporting movements. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Once more, damn, that was a big one. Sorry for rambling. I’ll try to sum it up a little better.

-Build strength, ROM, and proper activation patterns

-Learn to relax and move easily under low force conditions

-Learn to absorb high forces

-Learn to generate high forces

-Practice your sporting skills

Beyond that, I really try to stress quality over quantity. I also like autoregulation as a means of determining volume and I don’t think one can put a price on attitude or determination.

Again, sorry for rambling, and I hope that was clear enough.

EA: Excellent answer Roger.

A while ago you wrote an E-book about your training perspective.  How has you philosophy changed since then and why?  Additionally, to piggyback on that question, how has your philosophy changed since you began studying sport science?

RN: Thanks Alex. Truth be told, the hardest part was making it so short. Ha-ha….

As for the E-book, it was more of an E-pamphlet. Since then though, I don’t think my philosophy has changed much. Some things are more clear than others, but all of the same building blocks are still there. The e-book didn’t really go over my philosophy either. It was meant as somewhat of a primer to teach people not so much how to train, but how to look at and understand the various components that comprise training. I strongly subscribe to the “teach a man to fish” school of thought, in that the best way to help anyone is to teach them to do it on their own.

How I’ve changed since starting up on sports science is an entirely different story though. Though it was hardly science at the time, I first got interested in training through ads in “Slam” magazine for strength shoes and Air Alert. I’m not proud of it, but I still have a pair of Jumpsoles gathering dust somewhere out in my garage. At that point, I knew nothing except what the programs told me and I figured higher reps and more work were what lead to improvements.

Thankfully, I was able to reason that high rep programming didn’t make sense and that the Jumpsoles only seemed to be hindering my workouts. Seeking out answers, I stumbled across Louie Simmons and Joe Defranco and I took their word as law. Strength training was all there was and squats were king. But again, as I learned more, I could see that there was more out there. This revelation was largely caused by being introduced to the writings of Kelly Baggett (who has since influenced me directly for years, often through blunt words and solid advice) and seeing the science behind them.

It was at about this point that I stopped listening to coaches just because they were experts and set out to understand the underlying mechanisms behind everything.

After a few years of scouring textbooks, journals, and any other sources of information I could come by, I arrived at roughly where I am now. Whereas before I was only looking at bits and pieces of the picture, I now try to look at both the big picture and each little piece of the puzzle that makes it up. Basically, before I took the words of coaches because they were supposed to be experts, but now all I do is ask “why” and try to understand every little thing as fully as possible. As one would expect, this has lead to a marked shift in how I train and think.

No more 100 rep sets or senseless preoccupations with squats for me, thank you. Now everything I do is strongly (more or less) backed by fact and reason.

EA: It seems you get in more internet wars than almost anyone I know.  I think it may be time to start another.  Are there any sacred cows you would like to slay?  What common training ”truths” drive you nuts?

RN: Wow, you’re not just looking for a good interview, but a controversial one too, huh?

Nah, seriously though, I do get into e-scraps every once in a while, but I can’t help it. I don’t like seeing bad information passed around to people who don’t know better. One bad piece of information can ruin a kid for life. High depth jumps or 50 rep rhythm squats for example.

As for sacred cows, I’ve openly called out most of them by now, but there are a few I wouldn’t mind looking at again.

For one, I really don’t like the “no high intensity ab work” thing that somehow proliferates in sprint training circles. Somehow people think that hundreds of un-weighted crunches are good enough for the abs and hip flexors, yet they need heavy weights for every other muscle group. Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. The abs and hip flexors need tension and volume overload to adapt just like the rest of the body.

Along that same line, I don’t like the continuous pushing of p-chain work and the constant advice to arch one’s back hard. Both of these things set athletes up for having poor pelvic control and stability and a weak anterior chain. Instead of falling into the trap, people need to be focusing on keeping their pelvis neutral and training all sides of the body in a balanced manner. The front of the body is just as important as the back, and unless there’s balance, people will always be short of their potential.

And not to keep beating a dead horse, but I can’t stand the “squat or go home” guys. If you listened to the average Westside disciple you’d think squats not only build up the glutes, hams, quads and abs, but cured cancer and paid off your mortgage too. As a matter of fact (and I know I keep bringing up the abs here, but they’re very important to proper athletic function), the mere claim that the abs are adequately trained by squats and DLs is downright stupid. The abs act to help stabilize the pelvis, often poorly, but that’s all. They’re not a primary mover. Claiming squats, GMs, and DLs train the abs is the equivalent of saying that

decline sit ups train the spinal erectors.

Besides that, I don’t like the general misconceptions floating around about strength as it relates to athletes. People need to understand that the athlete who squats more isn’t necessarily stronger. As far as most athletes are concerned, there’s never any reason to display maximal strength in a 1RM bilateral lift. The demands of sport are just far too different from a maximal squat. As it matters to athletes, strength should be thought of as the levels of intramuscular tension they’re able to generate, not their performance in an unrelated drill like the squat. Training at and around one’s 1RM is risky and provides no benefit over other, less stressful, more specific types of training.

I’ve got more. Believe me, I’ve got more, but I think I”ll stop complaining for now. Just trust me when I say there are tons of misconceptions out there and most of them can be picked apart with a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of sound reasoning.

EA: What is the most common mistake that you see young/new athletes making in their strength and conditioning programs and how would your approach address the issue?

RN: The number one problem I see in most athletes, not just the new or young ones, is that they oftentimes focus too much on the amount of weight lifted while paying no heed to ROM or correct muscle activation patterns. Hell, I was guilty of this not more than a year ago. The fix is relatively simple though.

All you need to do is remind them that just lifting more won’t make them run faster or jump higher, but strengthening the right muscle groups and instilling the right activation patterns will. In otherwords, make sure they know and understand that lifting a lighter weight or dropping from a lower height correctly will help them out more than lifting heavier or dropping from higher if they are done incorrectly. With the ego on most young males, these reminders have got to be pretty much constant too.

As for the largest programming error, I’d have to again go back to the lack of balance between posterior and anterior chain development. Yes, the muscles of the posterior chain are responsible for almost all of the drive in most athletic movements, but they can’t function correctly if the pelvis isn’t properly stabilized by equally strong abdominals and hip flexors. And not only will developmental balance between the front and back of the body lead to better performance, but it will help reduce the chances of injury as well.

EA: If you had one piece of advice for most athletes that would improve their training what would it be?

RN: If I could only give one piece of advice I would tell them to learn everything they can about what they’re doing. I believe very strongly in educating one’s self about how and why things work the way they do out in the world, and training is no exception.

For actual training specific advice, I would tell them that there are no magic bullets. Athletes are built through long term programming, not one-off special exercises. Results take time, and what nets the most results today may impede progress in the future.

EA: You have been accused of over complicating the training process.  How do you respond?

RN: Funny enough, I would agree with that accusation, at least as it refers to me in the past. I did used to over complicate some things, but I’m getting a lot better about it now. Some people may still think the way I view training is overly complicated at times, but I think I’ve reached a good balance between detail and simplification. Any attempt to try and condense or streamline things further would involve omitting important information.

EA: Could you briefly outline your current training program and discuss why it is set up the way that it is?

RN: My current training is nothing special. I’ve been doing two main training sessions on Monday and Friday with a supporting session on Wednesday. On Monday I have been doing slight downhill overspeed running. On Wednesday I’ve been doing a session of RFI drills longer than 15 seconds in duration combined. And on Friday I’ve been doing longer full speed sprints, usually 150s. Volume is controlled through autoregulation. And depending on how I feel, I also include a small volume of yielding isometrics after about 2 sessions per week. On off days I try to do a little activation and dynamic mobility work.

It’s set up like this because I’m trying to get my top speed and speed endurance in place for the upcoming track season (it starts late in Alaska) while simultaneously building a little extra strength. Everything’s at high intensity too, so I take plenty of time off between more draining sessions.

After the season if over I’ll probably start rebuilding from the ground up.

EA: Considering all of your reading, who have been your influences?

RN: Throughout the years I’ve had a number of major influences, but perhaps the biggest one of all was Kelly Baggett. It was his writings that turned me on to the science behind training and without him I’d probably still think it was all about squatting and deadlifting your way to athletic success. Years of personal exchanges with Kelly have also been the prime factor in doing away with my overanalyzation. Harsh, informative, or both, his words have always pointed me in the right direction.

Another major influence for me was Brad Nuttall and the Inno-Sport system. The system provided me with an entirely new way of looking at training organization and it did the same for understanding how to label and piece together various training methods and modalities. Without this framework of classification, general programming would be much harder. But perhaps even more important than the system itself are the brilliant people I’ve met while learning about it. Funny enough, you’re one of those people Alex, and without your writings on T-Nation I probably never would have found the Inno-Sport system. You’re also largely responsible for my focus on correct muscle activation, though Chris Korfist and the other guys at WGF also played a part.

I also like the writings of Charlie Francis. And though I don’t follow his system, his insights on sprinting have been invaluable and the information I’ve gleaned from his forum has been irreplaceable, especially that from a certain gold medal winning 400M coach who chooses to remain publicly anonymous.

And to avoid leaving anyone out, I’d also like to include the many members of the DB forum. Nowhere else on the web can such a knowledgeable membership base be found, and without our interactions, I don’t know where I’d be.

EA: Rumor has it you have invented an exercise called “flying Nelsens”.  Could you describe the exercise and discuss it’s purpose?

RN: Haha, I did invent the exercise, but I did not coin the name. I would’ve chosen something less clunky.

Anyways, the exercise involves a special platform that allows athletes to perform band resisted jumps while standing parallel to the ground. Through the design of the platform and the band resistance, the jumps are actually p-chain dominant. Also, there is both an overspeed and an accommodating resistance component to the exercise due to the bands. All in all, it’s a very unique means of training and should theoretically do very well in developing strength specific to sprint acceleration.

I say theoretically because my platform broke shortly after I built it. Unfortunately I’m a better thinker than a carpenter. There have been positive results reported from others who saw my design, replicated it, and used it with their athletes though. Either way, the platform still has a lot of potential and I may get around having one welded together when the I get the time and money.

EA: You’ve also developed a plyo progression called HARTT.  Tell us a bit about what HARTT is, how you came up with the idea, and how you would integrate it into a training program.

RN: First of all, HARTT stands for Horizontally-loaded Absorptive and Reactive Torsion Training and the name was given partially tongue-in-cheek. While the words do describe what it is, I made it overly complex because I thought it would be funny.

That having been said, HARTT was a progression of jumps and landings designed to teach athletes how to absorb and generate force coming at them from odd angles and during rotation, much like they would encounter in their sports. What it basically consists of is jumping a set distance horizontally and landing in a specific way. As the athlete progresses, they would add distance to their horizontal jump to increase the landing force, and they would also start landing in different positions, such as on one leg or in a split position. Later, rotation would be added in, as would a rebound back to the starting position. All of these things would combine to increase the athlete’s ability to change direction out on the playing field.

By limiting the intensity, HARTT could be used by athletes of nearly all levels of preparation and would be a sure way to help reduce injuries. It could be incorporated by including 1-3 variations for a few sets and a few reps a few times per week. Sorry to be so vague, but the volume is largely up to the individual. As long as the progression is followed and the volume is kept manageable, it can be added into nearly an program.

EA: Is there anything you would like to add that has not been touched upon?

RN: Well, as much as I like pointless rambling, I don’t have much here. I can think of one thing that’s commonly overlooked though.

Of course coaches need to worry about the physical development of their athletes, but I feel they need to worry about their mental and emotional development as well. In my opinion, a good athlete should be an informed athlete and as long as they’re capable of it, an athlete should know why they’re doing what they are. The reasoning behind this is that if an athlete knows and understands what they’re doing, they’re much more likely to have confidence in the system, and if they have confidence in the system, they’re much more likely to give their effort to it completely.

Without true effort and hard work, even a perfect training program would fall short, and athletes need to understand that. Their coach can only take them so far. After a point, it’s up to them to want it badly enough.

EA: Thank you for your time.  This has been an informative interview.

RN: Thanks again for having me, Alex. I really enjoyed it.

Roger and Andrew Darqui are planning on launching an sports performance training website tentatively  titled Pure Dedication Athletics in June 2009.  Keep your eyes peeled.

In recent years the state of athletic training has grown and developed at an exponential rate. New methods and techniques are popping up all over the place. While the strength and conditioning community grows by leaps and bounds there is an alarming trend:

There is no long term planning.

Soviets called their long term system the Process of Achieving Sports Mastery, or PASM for short.

The lack of long term planning is hurting todays generation of athlete almost as much as the obesity epidemic. Everyone wants results now. Actually yesterday.

What is wrong with this?

We see the corrective exercise craze emerging as a result of a lack of PASM. Athletes can no longer recruit the right muscles, in the right positions, for extended periods of time. In other words we see the emergence of medial glute dysfunction, scapular dysfunction, mobility issues, lower back problems, the list is endless. More and more strength coaches spend their time teaching people how to move properly, “bend through your hips not your back,” and less and less time teaching advanced methods that would yeild greater results if athletes spent more time on proper physiological preparation in their younger years.

As Charlie Francis has said, the rush to results often leads to stagnation and uncertainty.

Unfortunately the industry is structured to create this deficit. Why? Glad you asked.

If a young athlete wants to improve their sport they may contact a “personal trainer”, who may only have a 3 hour certification or a “SAQ” specialist.

Well the consultant won’t make any money if they say “I’m gonna prepare you for the NFL. To do this the progress will be slow at first as we lay a solid foundation of movement preparation. However your senior year in college you will have an amazing season. when you are 20 and prepping for your pro day we will reap the rewards of all the hard work and dedication to movement that we ingrain now. We will use a long term plan with the ultimate goal being becoming an NFL player. We won’t focus on the results today as they don’t matter, all that matters is your senior year in college.”

Now to a 15 year old this is a daunting task. They cannot comprehend the approach. They just want to run fast and bench a lot of weight. They want results NOW (cell phones, blackberry’s, youtube). So they ditch the professional with the correct approach and talk to the guy at Velocity who promises 0.2 off their 40 in six weeks. Unfortunately they often jump into advanced training methods unprepared. Sure their times may drop but they are 15, who cares!!! So their medial glutes don’t work, they have poor hip mobility. They go to college and blow out their knee (medial glute dysfunction) or worse their back (hips and glutes). They were unprepared for the demands of their sport.

If only they knew they should slow cook their bodies. learn to move correctly first, then layed power and speed on top. They would have been ready for Division 1 football. They would be prepping for their pro day. They coulda been somebody. They coulda been a contenda. instead they are 20 with the body of a 50yr old.

Luckily some coaches recognize this problem and are committed to changing the state of the game.  Evolutionary Athletics is proud to be one such group of coaches.

Some final words of wisdom:

“Lift weights with a purpose. Anybody can get strong and big, that’s easy, but not everybody who lifts weights is good on an athletic field. That’s what you want to do.”

“One must be willing, to sacrifice to the same level they wish to achieve”

-Jay Schroeder

PS Evolutionary Athletics has no affiliation with Jay