How to Launch a Human Rocket: The Jump-X

By Jason Avedesian, MS, CSCS, PhD Candidate @ UNLV Interdisciplinary Health Sciences (Biomechanics) A previous blog addressed the importance of developing lower body strength and power for athletic performance and reducing the risk of injury.  Strength and conditioning coaches can utilize a variety of techniques such as barbell or dumbbell training, bodyweight exercises, resistance cords, […]

Northwestern Leads Way in Innovative Sports Performance

The Innovators One of the objectives of the Northwestern Sports Performance program is to “strive to be leaders in the industry, providing exemplary service to our student-athletes along with being at the forefront in current advances in the sports performance field.” From this statement, it should be recognized that Director of Sports Performance Jason Pullara […]

The 750 Club: Bench-Squat-Clean

Many high school and college strength and conditioning programs test the squat, bench press, and clean to evaluate muscular strength and power.  These exercises may also form the foundational lifts of the strength training program given that they are compound, large muscle group movements. In terms of testing and assessment, the one-rep max (1-RM) of […]

Tools of the Trade: Trak-Rak

The barbell is arguably the single most important tool when it comes to strength training.  However, the centerpiece of most weight rooms is the ‘rack’.   These metal cages were originally developed to serve as a mechanical spotter for heavy loads during squatting and hence became known as a “squat cage” or a “squat rack”.  However, […]

Train the Hips for Better Movement

How many coaches have you heard say, “He/she really doesn’t have ‘good hips’. He/she just doesn’t move well”. If you have been around coaches, then you have probably heard this statement. The hip joint (also called the hip girdle or pelvic girdle) is arguably one of the most important joints in the human body. It […]

Training the Female Athlete: Ask the Experts

When it comes to strength and conditioning, much of the attention is focused on the male athlete and in particular football.  However, some strength and conditioning coaches prefer to work with female athletes for a variety of reasons, and over the course of their careers have developed great practical expertise in training the female athlete. […]

The Evolution of the Lifting Platform

By Joe Eisenmann, PhD   The days of the above ground weightlifting platform may be a thing of the past. More and more high schools, colleges, and professional strength and conditioning facilities who are either building a new facility or renovating an existing facility are going away from the traditional above ground lifting platform and […]

5 things to remember for summer workouts

By Joe Eisenmann, PhD   This blog serves as a follow-up to a recent tweet, and allows for the opportunity to expand a bit on each key tenet or basic principle of strength and conditioning. Summer offers a two-month window to focus on training and conditioning for many high school coaches & athletes.  Of course, […]

Variable Resistance Training in Advanced High School Athletes

Training with bands as added resistance – known as variable resistance or accommodating resistance – has become popular in strength and conditioning. Recently, a comprehensive scientific review article (summarized in a previous blog) noted that variable resistance training appears to offer some superior advantages in producing the greatest comprehensive strength adaptations compared to other methods […]

Do you have an athlete development roadmap?

By Joe Eisenmann, PhD   The school year is about to end and you decide to go on a summer road trip – you service the car making sure it is in tip-top shape, pack some snacks, book the hotels for a good night rest, search the best tourist sites along the way, and plan […]