Functional Strength Coach 7

Change is Good, You Go First

Michael Boyle
www.strengthcoach.com
 Thanks
• Chris Poirier, Erin McGirr and Perform Better
• Pat Beith and Athletes Acceleration
• Chris Perilli and Pixel Mobb
• You!
Contact Info
• Email- mboyle1959@aol.com
• Twitter- @mboyle1959
• Instagram- @michael_boyle1959
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The Evolution Continues
• I only do these seminars when I figure I have an entire days worth of
new or updated thoughts!
• I’ve been teaching/ advising for about 12 years with this series.
• This time I’m going to start with life advice, something I’ve never
done.
My Most Important Advice?
There Is Hope For All of You
Today’s Goals

• 1st- I hope to encourage you to read

some great books that can change
your life
• 2nd-I hope to encourage you to read
the books I mention
• 3rd- I hope to encourage you to think
about both training and life
• 4th- I hope to encourage you to plan
your future and the future of your
programs
Encourage- from
the French. Literally
to give courage to.

I hope to
encourage you to
begin a program of
self improvement.
“The man who does not read
has no advantage over the man
who cannot read.”

Mark Twain
 “In my whole life, I have
known no wise people who
didn't read all the time —
none, zero. ”

Charlie Munger
“ who the heck is Charlie
Munger?”
PS- Please don’t say “ I don’t have time to read”

The bottom line is you don’t have time not to.

10 pages a day is 300 a month. The equivalent

of about a dozen books.

Or, enroll in Automobile University ( Zig Ziglar)

 Who Am I?
• I’m a business owner, a coach and a personal trainer, just
like a lot of you
Who Was I?
Dream Big!
Who’s
That?
First Piece of Advice – Know What Really Matters
“ It’s nice to be
important but, it’s
more important to be
nice”

“ success doesn’t
lead to happiness,
happiness leads to
success”
 Second Piece of Advice-
Take Chances While You Can
• “Note the carpet scraps on floor as that floor was
slick as _ _ it, Luke Richesson ( current Houston
Texan’s S+C Coach) would mop it about 1.5 hours a
day. Butcher paper over the windows, medball wall
was painted plywood over drywall.... ok until the guys
would line up and throw against the drywall.

• The next best was prior to this when we were in the

N. End ASU/Cardinals stadium in guest locker
room! Mirrors on 4x8 sheets of plywood, ziptied to
lockers, an olympic bar between lockers at emergency
exits for pull ups, shake bar in the doctors consult
office w/ sink, cold plunge in scorpion infested shower
(they come up through drains if dry)
Results Fitness 625 sq. ft of Training Space?
Fitness Quest 10
Bonus Advice- You Don’t Know Who You Know
• I’ve worked with or coached:
• 2 NFL Head Coaches
• 4 NHL Head Coaches
• 4 NBA Head Coaches
• As well as the father’s of some of the most famous players in
the world
• At the time, I had no idea.
Third Piece of Advice- Pay It Forward

Pittsburgh 1984
 #4- Cheat!

• When I start Mike Boyle U the first class will

be cheating.

• The MBU slogan will be “cheat, it’s what

smart people do to succeed”

• Today is all about cheating!

• Bonus Advice- Don’t Cheat off Stupid People

•Dunning Kruger Effect

•“ a cognitive bias whereby

people who are incompetent
at something are unable to
recognize their own
incompetence. And not only
do they fail to recognize their
incompetence, they’re also
likely to feel confident that
they actually are competent.”
Cheat Because- “Success Leaves Clues” -Anthony Robbins
•Success is easy if you pay attention

•“Simple but not easy”- Extreme Ownership

•Who is the best trainer/coach you know?

•What are they doing that you’re not?

•What do they look like?

•What are they wearing?

•How do they act?

Bonus Advice- Cheat Off the Right People
#5- Take Ownership
•Only you can make
you better.

•“ we encourage
leaders to do the
things they
probably know
they should but,
aren’t”
 #6- Care!

•“ people don’t
care you much
you know
until they
know how
much you
care”
“ and then they care how
much you know”

BOB ALEJO
“ have a give-a-shit meter
that’s always on high”
This Is Caring
#7- Care for Yourself!
• Allistair McCaw’s
Big Four
• 20 minute workout
• 20 minutes of
reading
• 20 minute nap
• 20 minutes of
gratitude/
thoughtfulness
 #8- Don’t Be A Dick?

•
Tim Ferris ( via Justified)
• “ if you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an
asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you’re an asshole”
#9- It’s Not About What You Like!
Bonus Advice
• Please don’t ever tell another adult how much you can lift or,
did lift at some point in your life
#10 - Life Advice-
Marry the
Right Person
Don’t Do Business With Cheaters

- there is no better ( or worse)

indication of character than how
someone treats their wife
Buy a house, ideally a
multi family and, buy
less than you can
afford

( PS- my wife and I

have owned 30+
houses, my 19 year old
has lived in over 20
different houses)
House Math
Purchase Price- $400,000
Down Payment- $20,000 ( 5%)
Asset Value - $400, 000
Cost to Acquire- $20,000
Appreciation in year one at 7%- $28,000?
+ Tax deductions?
Invest+ Understand
Compound Interest

$1 turning into $2 doesn’t

seem significant but 1
million turns into 2 million
at the same rate.
#11- Make A List of Things to Argue About
Finally- Don’t Get
Sucked In!
•
“What Do You
Make?”
It’s not not
what we
make, it’s who
we are?

Coach- a
vehicle that
moves people
to another
place
In closing…

•Read and then read more

•Cheat and then cheat more ( you know which
kind I mean)
•Care and then care more
•Be kind, be generous, be genuine
Break 1
15 min
So, Five Big Things
1. Change is good, healthy and intelligent
2. If you want to get fast you have to run fast.
3. Squats might not be the best choice for lower body
strength ( I know, you’ve probably heard me say this)
4. Deadlifts might make more sense than squats
5. We might want to rethink our ideas about velocity based
training / power
 Big Rocks!
( do we have the
wrong rocks?)
KISS

• “ as simple as possible but, not too

simple”

• Henk Kraaijenhof “ do as much as

necessary, not as much as possible”
 Low Volume Training?

• Stuart McRobert, Ken Leistner

• Maximum Benefit/ Minimum Load
• “ if your athletes are not getting stronger,
your strength program doesn’t work”
• I blamed my athletes when I should have
blamed myself
• We’ve been mesmerized/ duped by the
steroid guys for decades?
Like It or Not Steroids Are the Definition of a
Confounding Variable

• “ an extra variable that you didn’t account for”

• Being unaware of or failing to control for confounding

variables may cause the researcher to analyze the results
incorrectly.

• In other words, you may assume a program worked because

of the program when it fact, it worked because of the
steroids.
• Louis Simmons, owner of Westside
Barbell, said he's used steroids for
43 years.

Simmons dismissed concerns

about the adverse health effects.

"How many people died of

anabolic steroids last year? How
many died of alcohol? How many
died of tobacco?" he asked. "I just
want to know why the steroid
thing is such a big deal.”
 In the end it’s all about filing buckets

Alphabet soup of Coaching

supporting
approaches

The system
Exercise techniques
and cues
• “Fill the empty buckets, DON’T OVERFLOW FULL BUCKETS. DON’T
COMPLAIN ABOUT WHO FILLED IT OR HOW, just move to the nextbucket.
• Remember though, when I say to fill the bucket, I don’t literally
mean to fill it to the absolute brim. We all know what happens when
you try to do that; it overflows as
soon as you try to pick it up or move it. Instead, YOU WANT TO
LEAVE A LITTLE ROOM AT THE TOP TO GIVE YOURSELF A SMALL
BUFFER ZONE TO AVOID SPILLAGE.
And when in doubt, it’s better to leave a little more
space than fill it too high. The same can be said for in- season
training. It’s better to LEAVE A LITTLE BIT LEFT IN THE TANK than
overdo it and run your athletes into
the ground. You still want them to get stronger, but if
you get greedy, you’ll overflow their recovery capacity
and create a mess.” ~ MIKEBOYLE
 It’s a recipe, not a menu

The system

Quality training

Foam roll
Stretchh
Dynamic warm up
Linear acceleration
Plyos

Lateral
acceleration
lift
 Power Strength

Conditioning
Movement

Training
The right amount of each
Ingredient is key!
 Strength-
essential
to a
point?

Power-
the vital
bucket?
Which bucket, when, how full?

Warm-up Speed and power strength conditioning

Right exercise at the right time for each person

The system
Analyze Problems
• Investigate potential solutions!
Shirley Sahrmann
• “any time a muscle is injured look for a weak synergist”
Boyle/ Cook
• “Any time a joint is injured or painful, look above or below.”
• Look for leaks on the roof, not in the wall.
Joint Primary Need
Ankle Mobility

Knee Stability

Hip Mobility ( ROM +)

Lumbar Spine Stability

Thoracic Spine Mobility

Scapulo-thoracic Stability

Gleno-humeral Mobility?
 Problem? Trauma versus Overuse
• We consistently apply a “trauma based” surgical model to
the rehab of overuse injury.
• Different mechanism ( gradual onset) means different
treatment ( look on the roof)
The Band Analogy
????
• Anterior Pain, Posterior Problems
• Pain site, pain source
• We feel pain at attachments ( band analogy 2)
• ”Wrong sided pain”
• “The pain is seldom the problem but rather the symptom”
See the Big Picture!
What’s Your Lens? How do you see the S+C world?
 My Lens?
• Team sports, primarily ice hockey the last two decades
• Ice hockey colors and clouds my lens
• My experiences in college color and cloud my lens.
• Maybe not intentionally?
“The problem is never how to get new, innovative
thoughts into your mind...But how to get old ones
out.

Mike Lombardi ( former NFL executive)

“ It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks
he already knows”

Epictetus

“ it’s what you learn after you know it that counts”

John Wooden
 Are You Sitting Here Thinking I’m Crazy

This Guy With 38 Years of Experience Has No Idea

What He’s Talking About?
“ if you are doing the same program you did ten
years ago either you were way ahead of the curve
ten years ago or, you suck now”

Michael Boyle
 37 Years at the Train Station,
Waiting for My Ship To Come In
I’m Still Having Epiphanies in Year 38
How Stuck Are You?
•Former interns doing our programs from 20
years ago
•Former interns who simply revert back to what
they like?
•What is the point of learning if you fail to
continue to learn?
Smart People
• Change their mind
• Use simple language
• Talk less but, say more
• Stay teachable
• Ask questions

• Are you smart? Will you be smarter at the end of today?

“ don’t let your learning lead to knowledge, let
your learning lead to action”

Jim Rohn
I’m not saying if we make a change, you have
to change but, shouldn’t you at least
consider the change?

Consider the thought process,

consider the logic,

don’t simply revert back to what you like.

“ don’t believe everything you read and don’t read
only what you believe”

Martin Rooney
“ too many people read for agreement. ( think t-
nation, Elite FTS) or for things to disagree with
(everything else). Read to learn. Learn to change.
•“ why did we start doing
what we are doing in the
first place” p 51
Is your why “ because that’s the
way we’ve always done it”

or

“ that’s what I did when I played”

or worse,

“that’s what we did when I

interned at Mike’s?”
• "What if the way we
have always done it
was wrong?"
“The Conventional Wisdom
is Often Wrong and a Blithe
Acceptance of It Can Lead to
Sloppy, Wasteful or Even
Dangerous Outcomes”
“THE PROBLEM ISN’T
INFORMATION OVERLOAD,
IT’S FILTER FAILURE”
~ Clay Shirky

Or opinion overload?
 New Thoughts on Speed-
Everything Old is New Again
Are You Still Taking the Covered Wagon?
 Remember- Cheat!

• Bonus Advice- Don’t Cheat off Stupid

People
•Success is easy if you pay attention

•“Simple but not easy”- Extreme Ownership

I’m Not Smarter Than You
• I’m a better cheater and, more willing to cheat.
• I remember a coach talking about a player once he called
him “ too dumb to cheat”.
“don’t be afraid to change but, change slowly.”
And remember,

“ you don’t know the answer, you know an answer”

The Three Most
Difficult Words
in the English
Language

“ I don’t know”
 “success leaves clues”

Anthony Robbins

“ look for patterns of successful coaches or

success in unusual places”
Things Really Started to Change When
I Started to Cheat Off the Right People!
Mark Verstegen
• “ want to come to our staff meeting?”
• Med balls
• Multi-directional movement
• Diagonal patterns
Shirley Sahrmann
• “ the right muscles, moving the right joints at the right time”
• “ any time a muscle is injured look for weak synergist”
Dan Dyrek
• “ muscles can change in length and density”
• “ stress riser concept”
• “ targeted soft tissue work”
• “ loose irregular connective tissue ( superficial fascia,
muscle sheaths) is the most elastic and has the greatest
potential for change when manipulated by external forces”
• Cantu and Grodin- Myofascial Manipulation
Stuart McGill
• “ spare the spine”
• Lots of what your doing is wrong!
 Totally Random
• When it comes to digestion, sleeping on the left side may be preferable to
the right due to the simple matter of gravity. Specifically, lying on the left
side allows food waste to easily move from the large intestine into the
descending colon (meaning you’re more likely to have a bowel movement
upon waking). Sleeping on the left side also allows the stomach and
pancreas to hang naturally (our stomach lies on the left side of the body),
which can keep the development of pancreatic enzymes and other
digestive processes humming. (Need help visualizing this process?
Consult the image above).

• Kenny Kline
Questions?
Break 2
Warm-Up Changes
• Rollga Rollers ( 20-30 minute practical)
• Rolling, breathing, stretching, warm-up
Training Stuff
Five Big Training Cheats for Today
• Unilateral knee dominant training ( again!)
• Better bilateral choices
• Horizontal speed and power work ( timing)
• Analyzing velocity ( see chart)
• Vertical alternatives? ( see a new way?)
 Speed Development

-this may go down as the biggest programming

change of the last decade for us!
 #1 Thought
• The weightroom is vertical, sport is horizontal!
• I know, “duh”
• Is sprinting the Holy Grail?
• Have most of us missed the obvious?
A Tool or a Test?
Enter Tony Holler ( 58
yr old HS Honors
Chemistry Teacher)
• Record, Rank , Publish
• “ an ah-ha or a duh” ?

• Q- “How do I get fast?”

• A- “ Run fast”

• Q- “ How fast?”
• A- “ As fast as you can!”

• Q- “ How will I know if it’s fast?”

• A- “ Time it”
Be a Better Listener-
However,
What If The Way We Always Did It Was Wrong?
Me, waiting for my ship to come in…
Let’s Start From the Beginning Though
• We’ve always ”sprinted”
Charlie Francis- Still the
guy, even in the grave
(1988?)
95% and above?
Point 1- Strength Training Doesn’t Impact
Speed as Much As We Would Like to Think
• Tony- “Strength coaches will tell you that great teams are
made in the weight room, but remember, when you ask a
barber if you need a haircut, he will always say yes. ”
• Sprinting is done horizontally at speeds of 10 M/ sec
• Strength training is primarily vertically and, slow.
• ”Fast” lifting is about 2M/sec
• We might be wasting a lot of time with velocity based
strength training?
Benefits of Sprint Training
• Unilateral strength at very high movement speeds
• Unilateral power in horizontal and vertical directions
• Elastic power and stiffness at the hip and ankle complex
• Deceleration from very high speeds (though gradual)
• Injury reduction

List based on Derek Hansen’s Article Sprinting Training: The

Complete Training System ( from Cameron Josse)
“Speed develops the same CNS pathways as
strength training in the weight room. Speed can
build strength. Don’t discount speed training as a
means to get stronger.”

Zach Dechant TCU

Why We Shouldn’t Listen To Most Track Coaches?
• Or NFL coaches, or Division 1 coaches
• Working with “responders” can make the wrong turn out
right!
• However, “strength” coaches often ignore track coaches and
say things like “ they don’t have to change direction”
• “run fast, turn left ( slightly)”
Why We Should Listen to Good High School Track Coaches!

• Tony Holler
• Rob Assisse
• Listen to people who get average people faster
• Look for unusual results in unusual places
We all coach and covet sprinters!
What stopped us from sprinting?
Did “ Do No Harm” Scare Us into Doing Too Little?
Strength Training vs Sprint Training
2 hours vs 2 min?
2 hours vs 0 min?
Do Northerners Just Hunker Down the Winter?

Is that why we get “ speed guys” from down

south?

Do we need to run track or, run fast?

Space?
“ you write a novel in the weightroom and give me
the Cliff Notes when working on speed”

Dan Pfaff
Allocation of time and energy?
It’s also possible that we are wasting a lot of time
in general in the weightroom. Have you ever spent
a year chasing five lbs?
And, we may overestimate the amount of
strength needed
Kurt Hester LA Tech

Minimum Strength Requirements For The Game

LIFT OL TE RB WR QB DT DE LB S CB

Clean 300 285 295 265 265 315 300 295 275 265

Back Squat 500 425 445 385 385 525 475 445 405 385

Bench 325 295 300 275 275 345 315 300 295 275
As S+C Coaches, we don’t coach track,
powerlifting or Olympic lifting
Just Get Stronger?
Pick up heavy shit?
“ at some point the level of strength is
enough and you have to go and do something
else…this point may be earlier than we think”

JB Morin ( on the Just Fly Podcast)

Real Velocity Based Training
Weightlifting?
• bar speeds of the bench press and squat were identified as:
• Speed Strength: 0.8 to 1.0 meters per second
Strength Speed: 0.6 to 0.7 meters per second
Maximum Strength: 0.3 to 0.5 meters per second
• Additionally, in reference to the modified Olympic lifts:
• Power Snatch: 1.50 meters per second
Power Clean: 1.25 meters per second

• Ashley Jones- Power Training for Team Sports- Elite FTS

So, redesign your room! And maybe redesign your program?
“ but, I don’t have a lot of space?”

A fine whine
Drills?
• Drills are cute and great for warm-ups
• You wont get fast doing cute drills with cute names, running
with sticks and bags over your head etc. etc.
• These are warm-ups.
• You also wont get fast by lifting weights ( sorry, it took me a
long time to realize this).
• Lifting weights has a lot of purposes and is a piece of the
speed development puzzle.
News Flash…..

” if you want to get fast, you have to run fast!”

More on this later!

We all talk like we understand the idea of
specificity but, we like to hide where we feel
safe,(in the weightroom).
I could end right here, but I won’t
Startling Realization
The Common Denominator?
• Carl Lewis or Ben Johnson
• Lewis was not know as a “lifter” but ran as fast as Johnson
• I was always a Ben Johnson guy ( in spite of the drugs)
because what he did supported my thought process.
• Was I wrong, or did I miss something?
• More importantly, does it need to either/ or?
Johnson vs Lewis
• Number of Steps 46.2 43.6 ( 2.6 steps)
• Frequency of Steps 3.7/sec 3.9/ sec
• Avg Length of Steps 2.16 m 2.19 m
• Fastest 10 M .83 sec .83 sec ( 50-60 m)

• From CFTS
Great Sprinters Move 10 m/sec, Average Sprinters Move 8 M/sec.
Great weightlifters move 2 M/sec?
The Holy Grail?
Mark Boyle N=1, Jan 2018 1.87 Jan 2019 1.47
Tony’s Rules ( this is the biggest point today!)
• 2-3 reps, 2-3 days per week ( we are always 2 days)
• No races?
• Charlie Francis Rule? PR and you’re done? ( tough to
enforce)
• Number of reps in summer 2018
• About 2-3000 per week, 20,000 to 30,000 last summer. Zero
reported, sprint related injuries?
 How to Get Players Injured!
• Post practice, competitive sprints
Don’t Be Scared But, Be Smart
• I was scared and scared made me too conservative
• But, injuries increase drastically over twenty yards
• 10’s
• 10 yd Fly’s
• 15 yd Fly’s?
• Northeast reality?
The Return of the Acceleration Ladder?
• Speed City- Randy Smyth ( circa 1985?)
Speed Ladders Don’t Make You Faster!
Length vs Frequency
• Michael Flatley has fast feet but, he doesn’t go anywhere
Ken Clark – Max Velocity
The Real Speed Ladder?

Is this where the confusion

started?

Stuart McMillan-
Rhythm
Rise
Projection

Is this perfect?
Summary
• Good warm-up
• 2-3 sprints, beginning with foot start 10’s
• Progress from 5 to 10 to 15 yd fly
• Record all times
Posterior Chain Training?
• Charlies stuff?
• Sleds?
• Bridging?
• Nordics ( if we say it enough does it become fact?)
Two Major Workout Changes
• 1- Explosive lifts moved to upper body day ( I know years ago
we talked about keeping CNS intensive stuff on one day but,
the need to do more / varied posterior chain forced a
change.)
• 2- Sled push added as a lift on Day 1 and 3 (horizontal vector)
for Phase 1 and 2
 Vector
Based
Training?
Posterior
Chain
Sled Sprint- Phase 3
Is Sled Sprinting Like
Horizontal Olympic Lifting?
Sled Sprint
• 10% rule?

• Loads that slow you down to 150% of best time?

• 1.5 ten yard = 2.25 ten yard sled sprint

• Reference Cam Josse via JB Morin

Alex Carpenter 65 lbs. ( 1.15 Fly 10)
Cam Josse ( 28 yr old Strength/ Speed Coach
• “ I've realized the right load usually falls between 4.00-4.50
seconds when doing a 20 yard sprint and 2.00-2.50 seconds
when doing a 10 yard sprint so what I have started doing is
just aiming on the faster side of things and finding the
weight they can tow that falls between 4.00-4.20 seconds for
20yds and 2.00-2.20 seconds for 10 yards. “

• Adapted from Morin, Cross, Clark

JB Morin
• “except in strictly similar friction conditions, expressing loads in
%BM is inaccurate ”

• Use time vs load!

Power Development?
Cheating Off the Wrong
People?

I copied off a smart guy

for the wrong test.
The West Side Test Only
Has Three Questions
Is it dumb to try to do
things fast that were
intended to be slow?
Powerlifters are athletes but, athletes aren’t
powerlifters!
It’s Not About
What You Like!
 Kettlebells
West Side
Tri Phasic
Olympic Lifting
Yoga
PRI

or, a system?
Power Development
• Total system load is the key or, % of best VJ. ( FB example)
• Idiots talk about % of 1 RM
• Don’t put your ignorance on display:

• “ it is better to be thought stupid than to open your mouth

and provide proof”
Trap Bar Jumps vs Cleans? Another Big
Change
• Lighter, VJ based.
• Different physics on the way down.
• Much better if you don’t have a captive audience
• Much better injury work-around
As Shakespeare said;

“ to Olympic lift or not to Olympic lift, that is the

question”
 Olympic Lifting? Is it yes/ no?
• Foot stomps?
• Donkey kicks?
• Rocks?
• Triple extension?
• Straps?
• Injury prevention?
To catch or not to catch?

• Is catching specific injury prevention work?

• Injury creation?
• Injury reduction?
“We want great athletes that are good
weightlifters”

Denis Logan
Bryan Mann on Olympic Lifts?
• “ you have to continually coach form.”

• “ we either had to change the way we do them or, drop them

all together”

• To paraphrase- Olympic lifts have gotten a bad rep because

most coaches teach them poorly and use loads that are too
heavy
Squatober- a month of irritation
“ in the
1980’s and
1990’s I
added
strength to
dysfunction
for a living”
Why Do You Squat?
Why Do Your Athletes Squat?
1. Because it is the king of all lifts?
2. Because I read the “squat poem” on the wall of my high school
weightroom
3. Because my high school coach said “ squats are the king of all lifts
and because he had the squat poem on the wall of our weightroom”
Then- I Really Began to Think
“ we hold these truths to be self evident”

Declaration of Independence
Should Everyone Squat? Should Anyone?
We’ve beaten this to death, or have we?
• “ not only is the value of deep squats
questionable, but so is the claim that double leg
squats are particularly suitable for improving
strength in the legs. Strength in the back
muscles may be the limiting factor, rather than
strength in the legs, and so double leg squats
may in fact be a maximal strength exercise for
the back muscles”

• Frans Bosch
Jim Wendler on his high school strength program
“ we did squats and pushups…”
Loaded Squats vs Squat Pattern?
The Birth of the Unilateral Idea
• Too much back pain
• Unexplained back pain ( form was good)
• The search for a safer way
• No initial thought it might lead to higher loads and greater
transfer
Unilateral vs Bilateral Training
• Big MAC’s $4
• ½ Big MAC’s $1.50
• Which would you want?
• If you get two halves at less cost than the whole, would you
ever buy a whole big MAC ( thanks to Kevin Carr)
Bilateral vs Unilateral?
• In 2009 I was a joke!
• “ I remember saying to myself when I was younger that Mike Boyle
was such a pussy for advocating all this unilateral training… now I
find myself kicking myself” Mike Guadango Freak Factory

• “ remember the shit Boyle caught when he said he doesn’’t have his
athletes barbell squat, how can he do this, this guys nuts, its
sacriligious”
• Joe DeFrance/ Cam Josse

• “ when you work with college kids you can get away with a lot more”
Joe DeFranco
Bilateral Deficit
• Abstract -The bilateral limb deficit (BLD)
describes the difference in maximal or near
maximal force generating capacity of muscles
when they are contracted alone or in
combination with the contralateral muscles. A
deficit occurs when the summed unilateral
force is greater than the bilateral force.
• Eur J Appl Physiol (2006) 97: 322 326 DOI
10.1007/s00421-006-0188-7
Kuruganti and Seaman
Science- Back Enemies
• Inflexibility ( floor slide example)
• Tourque- rotation
• Shear- forward lean
• Compression- bar above
Torque and Shear?
A Boston University Experiment- Front Squat
vs Split Squat
Same in Middle School
BTW- the box is for
depth, not for box
squats
Suddenly, a discovery. We were meant to be
on one leg!
1- How Strong is Strong? Are Most Athletes Strong Enough?
Unilateral Training is Better for COD
• https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/30758/1/gupea_2077_30758
_1.pdf
Effects of Heavy-Resistance Strength and Balance Training on Unilateral and Bilateral Leg Strength
Performance in Old Adults
Rainer Beurskens, 1 ,* Albert Gollhofer, 2 Thomas Muehlbauer, 1 Marco Cardinale, 3 , 4 and Urs
Granacher 1
François Tremblay, Academic Editor

Different theories have been proposed to explain BLD. Some of the causes seem to
be: (1) inhibited spinal reflexes (i.e., sensory activity from one limb inhibits motor
neuron activation in the contralateral limb and vice versa) [10], (2) a reduction in
motor neuron excitability of particularly fast-twitch motor neurons during bilateral
muscle contractions [11], and (3) cortical inhibition related to the interaction of the
primary motor cortex of the two hemispheres when performing bilateral contractions
[12]. In particular, cortical inhibition seems to be a prominent mechanism during
bilateral exertions, where the motor cortex of the contralateral hemisphere inhibits the
ipsilateral motor cortex via transcallosal pathways [13]. Cortical inhibition decreases
neural drive to the activated muscles during bilateral contractions, thereby resulting in
force decrements [10,13]. In this context, BLD reflects a neural inhibitory mechanism
during symmetrical bilateral muscle contractions [4,11]. Thus, it can be assessed as a
proxy for the role of central activation during force generation.
References
1. Bobbert MF, de Graaf WW, Jonk JN, Casius LJ. Explanation of the bilateral deficit in human vertical squat jumping. J Appl Phy
(1985) 2006; 100(2): 493–499. [PubMed]
2. Hernandez JP, Nelson-Whalen NL, Franke WD, McLean SP. Bilateral index expressions and iEMG activity in older versus youn
adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2003; 58(6): 536–541. [PubMed]
3. Magnus CR, Farthing JP. Greater bilateral deficit in leg press than in handgrip exercise might be linked to differences in postural
stability requirements. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 2008; 33(6): 1132–1139. doi: 10.1139/H08-101 [PubMed]
4. Howard JD, Enoka RM. Maximum bilateral contractions are modified by neurally mediated interlimb effects. J Appl Physiol
(1985) 1991; 70(1): 306–316. [PubMed]
5. Kuruganti U, Murphy T. Bilateral deficit expressions and myoelectric signal activity during submaximal and maximal isometric
knee extensions in young, athletic males. Eur J Appl Physiol 2008; 102(6): 721–726. [PubMed]
6. Hakkinen K, Kraemer WJ, Newton RU. Muscle activation and force production during bilateral and unilateral concentric and
isometric contractions of the knee extensors in men and women at different ages. Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol 1997; 37(3): 131
142. [PubMed]
7. Jakobi JM, Chilibeck PD. Bilateral and unilateral contractions: possible differences in maximal voluntary force. Can J Appl
Physiol 2001; 26(1): 12–33. [PubMed]
8. Kuruganti U, Seaman K. The bilateral leg strength deficit is present in old, young and adolescent females during isokinetic knee
extension and flexion. Eur J Appl Physiol 2006; 97(3): 322–326. [PubMed]
9. Rejc E, Lazzer S, Antonutto G, Isola M, di Prampero PE. Bilateral deficit and EMG activity during explosive lower limb
contractions against different overloads. Eur J Appl Physiol 2010; 108(1): 157–165. doi: 10.1007/s00421-009-1199-y [PubMed]
10. Ohtsuki T. Decrease in human voluntary isometric arm strength induced by simultaneous bilateral exertion. Behavioural Brain
Research 1983; 7(2): 165–178. [PubMed]
11. Oda S. Motor control for bilateral muscular contractions in humans. Jpn J Physiol 1997; 47(6): 487–498. [PubMed]
Please Stop- All the T-Nation and Elite FTS
articles say you’re wrong!
I’m actually glad everyone is so stubborn/
dumb!
Posterior Chain?

• Trap Bar
• Charlies stuff?
• Sleds?
• Bridging?
• Nordics ( if we say it enough does it become fact?)
Deadlift vs Squat

• “World and European powerlifting

records show that the deadlift and
the squat records are within 10%
or less of each other across all
weight classes, both for men and
women. Yet the deadlift works a
significantly greater percentage
of the muscles”
Why Deadlifts?
• Better Sprint Angles • Inflexibility ( not a factor)
• More posterior chain • Tourque- 5 ft vs 7 ft
• Shear- bar closer to COM
• More muscles
• Compression force vs flexion
• Why Trap Bar- torque and moments?
shear control?
• Squedlifts?
• Flexion moments?
Just Get Stronger?
Pick up heavy shit?
KISS

• “ as simple as possible but, not too

simple”
Grandma Deadlifts?
Everyone should deadlift?

No one should straight bar deadlift

Kettlebell until you run out, then elevated

dumbbell.

Then Trap Bar

Squat or
Deadlift?
Bosch Iso’s vs
”Nordics” vs
“Razors”, vs
Glute Hams
Eccentrics
 Training the Elite Fast Twitch Athlete
• Crawford, Ellsbury, Sturridge, Wood?
• Plowhorse vs Racehorse? Imagine American Pharoah hooked
up to a plow.
• Injury prone or poorly managed
• Is the manager a former plowhorse?
• Valle- “Based on research on creatine kinase, we
tend to see the more explosive type athletes as
more susceptible to soreness. The divas (read
talented and slightly lazy) avoid training and
have a legitimate point about the uniqueness of
their responses to training.”
Practical
• Just Jump
• Trap Bar Jumps ( compare to VJ)
• Posterior chain ideas?
 Brian Tracey
• “If you read 30 minutes per day, every day at the end of one
year you would be one of the smartest people in your field”
• 30 minutes per day is 180 hours per year of “professional”
reading.
New Ideas
• Vertical vs horizontal ( weightroom and speed)
• Timing/ VJ
• Unilateral plyos ( taking the squat concept further)
• Kids plyos- ladders/ double ladders, hoops
• Unilateral Olympic lifts
• Trap Bar Jumps
• Teaching cleans? Pulls? Part method?
• Training kids ( the Big 5)
• Teaching changes- SLDL ( reach, band)
• DB Row- hand and knee on bench vs squat stance
• Versapulley?
• The consistent go to’s ( warm-up, stretching, sand bag, mini bands, ladder
drills)
• Rock mats