1. Drop the idea that athletes should ONLY be lifting heavy weights, building big muscles, performing Olympic lifts, performing speed/agility, or plyometrics. Athletes should not be trained like power lifters, they are to be trained similar to their sport-specific on field skills. A strength coach should be implementing various methods of training in order to develop optimal athleticism and sports performance.

2. The athletes that can produce (accelerate) and reduce (decelerate) high forces at high speeds on the playing field, have much more of an advantage over the other athletes that do not possess this on-field skill.

3. Speed of movement, strength and explosive power all go hand-in-hand;
The athletes who have higher power-to-body-weight ratios execute athletic movements faster,
and also have dominant on-field performance.

4. Training to meet the in-game metabolic demands of an athlete's specific sport should be met through proper lifts, jumps, and sprints. This will increase the ability of their sport-specific athletic efficiency.

see more great info on athletic performance by Coach Werner and the JMU Strength & Conditioning Staff: http://orgs.jmu.edu/strength/index.htm

Here is a great snack recipe to prepare for yourself when you're all out of focus food bars and you need something tasty and healthy when you're on the go:

Peanut Butter Protein Balls

Ingredients

• All Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter: 2 cups
• Ideal Whey Powder(Chocolate): 2-3 scoops (more or less depending on the protein content you want to include)
• Ripe Bananas (mashed): 2
• Flax Seeds: 2 tbsp

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter, whey powder, bananas, and flax seed.
2. Mold the mixture into walnut-size balls, and place them in a container lined with parchment to separate the layers. Freeze at least 2 hours before serving

Recipe courtesy of James Madison University Strength & Conditioning staff

For those of you following, I apologize for the long delay on posts, I have been buried under the responsibilities of my clients and facility for the past month. I’d like to present a rant, so this is a warning to any sensitive obese individuals that might be reading – you probably will not like what you are about to read. Regardless, I do not have any pity to offer.

While doing some late night reading, my girl friend had been watching a tv show called Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.

The overweight individual taking on the 365 day weight loss transformation was an elementary school physical education teacher. Long story short, after watching the episode, the woman managed to drop a whopping 159 pounds, going from an initial 369 pounds to a healthier 210 pounds. She did all of this with her own motivation and the building blocks from which her educated personal trainer had provided. After being impressed and inspired by the woman’s will to make such a great change in her life, I was highly aggravated and annoyed by the reflection of her role as a 369 pound physical education teacher. It really pisses me off how people can let themselves become obese and still have the balls to learn about physical fitness (if they are even educated in the field) THEN some how think that they are suitable for educating others about physical fitness and healthier lifestyles. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES THAT CHILDREN WILL BE TAKING AN OVERWEIGHT/OBESE PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER SERIOUSLY ABOUT THEIR ADVICE ABOUT PROPER NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL FITNESS?!?

UHHHHHHH???????......

Well if you couldn’t figure it out, children obviously don’t take them seriously if 16% of US children are currently obese, which in turn, lasts into adulthood with 33.8% of American adults being obese and 68% of the US is overweight. The proof is in the pudding, which American bodies seem to look full of, lards of pudding. Those percentages prove why overweight and obese people have initiated a substantial rise in health care for all Americans and here are some facts to support:

-Obese spend 36% more for medical care (Obes Res, 2001)

-Relative to normal bodyweight BMI, 30-34.9, 35-39.9, 40+ was associated with 25%, 50%, & 107% inc in health care expenditures (Obes Res, 2004)

-Obese individuals have 25% more physician visits (Arch Intern Med, 1998)

-Had 38% more primary care visits (Am J Health Prom)

-Had 74% more inpatient days (Arch Intern Med, 1998)

-Obese individuals  had 1.84x the annual number of pharmacy prescriptions, including 6x the number for diabetes meds and 3.4x for cardiovascular meds

Now some of you might think I am being harsh, and your response to my rants might be: “it’s not their fault, they can’t help being fat.” Or “they were born that way”. Well, guess what, your claims are not entirely true. Children tend to carry the same “fat” genetic as their parents: if 1 parent is obese then there is a 50% chance the child will be obese. If 2 parents are obese, there is a 73% chance the child will be obese as well. And take a look at this gem: if 0 parents are obese, there is a 9% chance they will be obese. I will take that 9% over the 73% or 50% any day! That goes to show the role of the parent’s decisions on the risks of a child being born into the fat life and being granted years of social unacceptance and harassment from their peers. THANKS MOM AND DAD!

            Aside from my tangent, it is not only ridiculous how fast the rate of obesity is increasing in this country, but the part that truly gets on my nerves are the hypocritcal “physical educators” trying to teach children about the many reasons why they should maintain a healthy lifestyle, yet their fat-ass-selves find every excuse possible as to why they CANNOT have a healthy and fit lifestyle. I get the fact that we all have “busy” lives, so taking 30-60 minutes out of your day to exercise is just too difficult to fit into your schedules. Okay, I will grant you that excuse, pretending as if you don’t spend 3-4 hours of your day behind a computer screen, on facebook, or watching your favorite cooking or sports shows. But does that mean, you have to EAT like shit, if you already aren’t exercising? No, of course it doesn’t. But there comes the excuse again , not having enough time to prepare healthier foods. If you are truly that lazy to learn how to prepare healthier foods in advance, instead of going for the 100-calorie packs while shaking your shake weight, then I am pretty sure your favorite fast food places have many “healthy” options on the menu, like a salad with grilled chicken, WITHOUT the fattening dressings and sauces. If you are lazier than a glass eyeball, then all you can do is pick your poison, but you will still most likely be fat and out of shape, or at a “lighter” weight you are settled with. So to all of the Mr and Ms “Gym” teachers out there, take your own advice and quit being such a lazy shit and practice what you preach.

Proper nutrition & supplementation for strength training, weight lifting and/or power lifting seem to all be popular topics of discussion through out the GI community blog as well as local gyms and weight rooms that I have been around.