We’ve all done this at one time or another; walk into a weight room, watch an athlete train, and know exactly who their strength coach was or what strength coach programmed their training.
Whether you know Tony Testa, Director of Sports Medicine at Seton Hall or not, you’d know exactly which kids he taught the Olympic lifts to and which ones he didn’t. Tony is a perfectionist and a first rate teacher of the Olympic lifts, in fact, probably the best I’ve ever seen. Whether he was helping out in the weight room during training or implementing the clean as part of his rehabilitation program, his athletes are a direct reflection of his affection for the Olympic lifts.
With other strength coaches, its bench press Mondays. 10 sets of Bench… doesn’t matter if you have time for anything else.
“I’ve competed in bench press competitions so you’ll bench too.”
On the flip side, you’ll find other “performance coaches” with little actual training experience avoid weights all together.
“It’s all about flexibility. Feel the stretch”
So what exercises are your athletes performing today, or should I say, which ones are they not doing simply because you don’t perform them yourself? Are you looking to fill in the gaps or just simply looking to fill time?
Art Horne is the Coordinator of Care and Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Men’s Basketball Team at Northeastern University, Boston MA. He can be reached at a.horne@neu.edu.
