Training Considerations for Improving Muscular Strength: Q&A with Dr. Tim Suchomel

Muscular strength and power are critical for athletic performance, and most, if not all, coaches recognize the importance of resistance training in the overall program.  However, this also leaves the question – what is the best way to train my athletes? This certainly opens a big can of worms that can take several directions including […]

You Can’t Fire a Cannon From a Canoe: Training the Lower Body

By Joe Eisenmann, PhD “You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe.” “Don’t build on sand.” “Build the foundation of the house before you put up the walls.” In the context of athletics, these analogies highlight the importance of lower body strength as a foundation to athletic performance. Indeed, several studies have shown that lower […]

Basketball Conditioning: Converting Existing Lifting Platforms to Jump Training Stations

By Dan Hutchison, MS, ATC, CSCS Basketball conditioning has always emphasized some of aspect of vertical training to improve jumping ability.  Although the long-term goal of the individual is to ‘dunk’ the basketball, many times the ability to leave the earth by just a few extra inches (or centimeters) is sufficient.  Basketball consists of many […]

Improve Lower Body Power with the Jump-X System

To be strong and exert maximal force is one thing – to be powerful is another. If you recall from physics, biomechanics or exercise physiology, POWER is the rate of doing work and is the product of force and velocity (P = F x v). Coaches and athletes definitely recognize that the ability to produce […]

3 Optimal Devices for Running Speed Improvement

By Dan Hutchison, MS, ATC, CSCS   There will most likely never be a magic pill or potion that miraculously makes humans rich, good-looking, athletic, thin, or famous.  But, can there be a magic ‘tool’ to make humans run faster?  Most likely NOT, but the question has been contemplated since the first Olympic Games in […]

Cord-Loaded Olympic Lifting: Suggestions and Key Points for Strength and Conditioning Coaches

By Dan Hutchison, MS, ATC, CSCS Olympic weight lifting has been utilized in most resistance training venues catering towards improvements in athletic performance.  Often referred to as the most sophisticated and technical resistance training exercises, Olympic weight lifting tends to be assigned to athletes with many years of resistance training experience who are under the […]

Cord-Loaded Deadlifts using The Trak-X™ System

By Dan Hutchison, MS, ATC, CSCS   The Deadlift  is one of the most implemented weight lifting movements for improving strength and power. The muscle groups of the low back, glutes, and hamstrings, commonly known as the ‘posterior chain’, have numerous effects on the majority of athletic movements and are deemed key training areas for […]

Retrofit your weight room to improve strength & power: a case study

In this blog, George Filipiak, better known as “Coach Flip”, from Roosevelt High School in Wyandotte, Michigan shares his experience with Perform-X. Coach Flip was first introduced to Perform-X at the Spartan Strength and Conditioning clinic at Michigan State University. He had his racks and above ground platforms retrofitted with the Trak-X system, an innovative […]