A Philosophy of Strength and Health

April 29, 2010 June 28, 2011 Do you guys have permits for those guns? All kidding aside, tall athletes need time to grow into their bodies. Ryan Pierson is going into his sophomore year in college and is three years older than Nolan Berry, who is going into his junior year in high school. These guys need time for their natural maturation to occur. And they often need time to learn to appreciate the value of eating well and eating enough. Both are still teenagers, yet coaches sometimes expect them to be grown men. We cannot forget that these tall guys are still kids--just in really tall bodies. My job is to support their growth processes by helping them develop good body awareness, good alignment, mobility and strength. I'm not here just to add mass and make them bigger monoliths. I'm here to make them resilient, adaptable athletes that are ready for the demands and the opportunities at the college level and beyond.

Lights on. Lights off. Tried out this little guy today in the facility. Very nice! I saw an ad for the Epson Movie Mate 62 in a Best Buy Sunday circular and it caught my eye because it has a built in DVD player and speakers, as well as HDMI, VGA and component inputs. This makes it very versatile for presentations and use with athletes. If I just want to play a DVD, I can pop it in without a laptop or a DVD player. The image from my home-made DVD of weightlifting videos was very nice in 4:3 aspect ratio, with the actual image width of about 10' and width of 8'. When I hooked up my iPad2, it went into widescreen format and videos shot in landscape orientation with the iPad2 were huge--probably right at 8' high and 15' in width. Of course you need a special Apple adapter to use the HDMI connection, but it is worth it. This will be a great asset for the USAW Level 1 Course I'm teaching later this month and for future seminars and courses. And we just might have ...

Check out the Hexlite Bar in the comprehensive video demo library put together by Adam Moss and Will O'Brien of the Collegiate School inRichmond, VA.

Once again, Oregon strength coach Jimmy Radcliffe and his wife Dr. Janice Radcliffe imparted a bit of their wisdom and experience to the folks at GAIN 2011. I managed to capture Jimmy on my iPad2 video camera and then took this still shot with the iPad VideoPix app (99 cents). How many DI head strength coaches walk the walk and talk the talk like Jimmy can? Very few if any. This guy is the ultimate blend of common sense, coaching, experience and sport science. Always humbling to watch; absolutely wonderful to listen to.

Sorry I've been so quiet this year. 2011 has been a quite a journey for me. I've learned so much about myself. Realized it was time to step out of my comfort zone. Time to grow. It all started with a pair of Frye boots back in January. It has culminated in my very own, new physical health & performance facility in June. Talk about whirlwind. I've put a few from my phone below. Nothing fancy here. A few select tools and about 1800 sq feet to: build awareness build alignment get mobile get strong get fast Never thought I'd be in this position, but here I am. Time for me to really put my passion, ideas and words into action. Still have so much to do with my website and the facility; one step at a time. But I am up and running. Open house and grand opening coming soon. Thanks to all of you in the blogosphere for your support over the last 6 years--yes, my first post was August 12, 2005. Over the next 6 years I look forward to talking about my journey a...