Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
@hailstatembk
🏀
#HailState
🐶 A stoic practitioner training athletes using pluralism, pragmatism, and realism 💪🏾📖📈
How do we improve “lateral quickness?”
It’s a multifaceted approach. In the weight room we attack…
Kinematics - limb velocity
Kinetics - ground reaction forces
Combined with game reps, which is more important, this has allowed our guys to move better.
Deep Tier Jumps 🚀🚀🚀
- Deeper ROM
- Joints absorb more force (oscillatory)
- Builds tissues
- Improves stability
@McInnesWatson
We usually perform these at the end of a workout as the body tends to “remember” the last thing it does.
A way to build volume is with your warm ups! 1st day and this is all we did:
WU
- Goblet Squat 3x12 🎥
- Back Ext 3x12 🎥
- Pull Up Holds 3x15s
- RDL 3x12
- Lunge Matrix 3x2
- Load Carries 3x
Jumps
- Ankle Jumps 2x15
- Split Jumps 1x8
- Knee Tucks 2x5
- Hops 2x3 🎥
Testing
A look into what the guys did today and it took 25 mins:
Goblet Squat 2x6
Triceps 2x10
Torso - twist 2x5
Chest Flies 2x10
SL Deadlift 2x6
FROM Frontal Raise 2x10
Rows 2x10
Biceps 2x10
Bench 3x5
KB Swing 2x8
Lunge to Reach 2x2
Speed Chin Ups 3x3
SL Squat 2x8
Side Bend 2x5
An intern, with a T&F background, witnessed a MBB workout for the first time and her comments were “your guys are bouncy even compared to track athletes.”
She was referring to our bounding progressions. It’s a testament to months of work the guys put in. Stacking days! 📈📈
Some people believe 1x20 can’t prepare you for higher intensities. Well, here’s a clip of dudes who did 1x20 for a year doing 450 for 3 (smoothly).
No matter the reps, as long as it’s accumulated intelligently, a base will be built. Accumulate to elevate 📈📈
Many roads lead to Rome but the path to get there does matter.
I switched my higher minute guys to Belt Squat. This allows us to still load them without the heavy stress of axial loading.
Also, they record their peak power to check readiness and drive intent to attack.
Today the vets focused on COD:
- Lateral jumps, bounds, hops
- Max intent curved running into cutting
- Converting horizontal momentum to vertical momentum 🎥
- 3x3 on bench and trapbar 🎥
- higher volume for pulling and hinging
Thank you Northwestern!
I am forever grateful for my time here!
To my athletes: thank you for letting a man from a small town in Texas be himself and for accepting the hard coaching. I hope I had the same impact on you as you’ve had on me!
Words cannot express how excited and blessed I am for the opportunity to be apart of
@MarchMadnessMBB
. Thank you to Coach Jans, the staff, and players for trusting me to run the S&C program.
The longer I’m in this field, the more I realize that simple is the way. We use our experience and continuing education to find which “simple” way works best for our athletes. It’s that simple.
These guys have been working!
The goal with
@ToluSmith1
is to keep him strong and, as he progresses, we’ll focus more on the conditioning aspect.
With
@kballer_21
, strength was the focus early on, but and now he’s transitioning into a conditioning/strength phase.
Nobody may be more important to Mississippi State basketball over the next few months than Andrew Kegley and
@raikagedom
, in helping Tolu Smith (and others) back on the court.
Why? Here:
The season starts in 3 days!
It’s so surreal that I’m a full time employee at a university
#HailState
🐶 where years prior I was an intern staying in a living room and sleeping on an air mattress.
Accumulating towards your higher nature pays off! Stay the course!
During in-season the older guys will lift above 80% every 10-15 days and during the year the younger guys will do the same every 8-10 weeks.
✅ Strength Maintenance & Improvement
✅ Tissue Building
✅ Intramuscular Coordination
✅ Grinds
✅ Preparation (younger guys)
Our locomotive jumps/plyos that helped with the results below!
Hops and bounds are starting to become one of our foundational movements. I think both are very important as it relates to team sport athletes!
Relative Peak Landing Force 📉
I rarely look at this metric or coach it when my guys land on the plate. But, it improved throughout last season and is improving during the off season.
Do I do landing drills? No. I just coach our jumps/plyos.
🤜🏾🤛🏾
@McInnesWatson
Currently our in-season training is about 3 sessions a week. This shows workout C, which is built as a recovery session. I appreciate
@CVASPS
for the idea!
As he puts it the goal is the improve mobility and projection.
1️⃣ Knee Drive
2️⃣ High Box Step Up
3️⃣ Lunges
4️⃣ Bounding
For those that may not know, 1x20 works. Results speak louder than words:
Using the dexa our guys BF% has improve an average of 4-6% within 5 months. In addition, force plate outputs have improved and currently remain steady.
There’s more than one way to the mountaintop.
A squat progression we tend to use is Goblet ➡️ Safetybar ➡️ Barbell.
The majority of hoopers have a narrow infrasternal angle so goblet and safetybar puts them in a good position. Once they progress to using a barbell, they tend to retain the movement qualities.
🧵🧵
Adding deep tier jumps has lead to technical improvements in my squats! I tend to focus on submax loads with great technique. I also do these with my athletes and have gotten the same results!
Force plate showed 2x BW at the bottom of the jumps!
@McInnesWatson
🤝🏾
When you go through 20/14/8, doing a half squat for 14 using VBT is a breeze: 255# avg velocity .9 m/s.
As we transition into year 2 with
@jhubb_3
we’ll start to dip into some SST work!
Basketball is a long season (28 weeks), so don’t be in a rush to get your athletes back in the weight room. They need a break and you need a break, plus, you want the results of those 28 weeks to show when you start post season training.
I was once told I wouldn’t make it in this field. So glad I listened because that moment allowed me to continually feed my higher nature which lead me to my current situation.
#B1GCats
Every strength and conditioning program has a push, pull, squat, and hinge but what separates programs, whether it’s for a sport or coach’s preference, is the “everything else” category.
Be curious about a sport’s or coach’s “everything else.”
GHR, as Yessis intended, is a double contraction in the hip and knee and you aren’t required to finish vertical.
We take about a year to develop this exercise and then, depending on the situation, we progress to explosive GHR. Great execution by
@ToluSmith1
🤜🏾🤛🏾
Private S&C coaches, understand that your athletes pay for your services. With that, I’d imagine some things are easier to manage.
In a collegiate setting, athletes sign because of the sport, not S&C, so that carries its own set of challenges. Have some empathy and respect.
This 12 sec clip sums up what our older guys will be doing.
50 Min Session:
30 mins of athletic movements on the court using wearable resistance (he’s wearing it right now 🤫)
20 mins of lifting heavy (easy strength)
Piggybacking off of what
@SCoach_Aldo
(my guy 🤜🏾🤛🏾) said: “Variety of training stimulus is key to long term improvements.”
When it comes to our extensive jumps, we also will switch it up every couple of weeks. So many ways to create a stimulus: height, distance, intent, etc.
1️⃣ Hip ER PAILs + PRL
2️⃣ Hip IR PAILs + PRL
Rotation is a fundamental movement for the hip so our guys receive rotational inputs daily.
It allows…
🟣 Quality skill development
🟣 Transfer of forces
🟣 Injury mitigation
A look into the later part of our in-season training
🧵🧵🧵
High Min Group Workout:
A1 High Box Step Up 2x5
A2 Calf Stretch 2x20 sec
B1 Depth Jumps 1x5 🎥
C1 Chain Bench 3x3 🎥
C2 Vertical Core 2x4 🎥
D1 RDL 2x5 🎥
D2 Vertical Core 2x4
E1 Weighted Chin Ups 3x3
When guys come in to do extra work, I love to expose them to movements they aren’t doing during their sprints.
More extra work = more movement exposures = better foundation
😤😤😤
Hypertrophy clusters for this group!
During this session it was 8x3 on squat EMOM (technique and force plate data is good so not worried about depth 🤷🏾♂️) and 10x2 on bench, which needed to be completed in 15 mins. They got it done in under 8 mins!
Accumulate to elevate!! 📈
Using the small world model of allowing our CMJ phase to drive exercise selection and frequency, we hope to have a positive influence on the large world of sport.
I’ve been happy with the results so far!
Accumulate to elevate 📈
Development of Structural Strength:
🧵🧵
Our first year is about developing the structural strength of the tissues. How it is done and what exercises we use is dependent on the athlete.
Below is
@kballer_21
process as it relates to the squat.
Development takes time! Our GPP is about a 2 year process as novices need to accumulate volume. Keep the “advance” methods in your back pocket until you need them.
As we have everyone back from injury, I’d personally like to thank Andrew Kegley (AT) and Trisha Yen (Dietitian).
It takes a village to make sure the RTP progress goes smoothly and
@HailStateMBK
is lucky to have two great individuals who are great at what they do!
Occam’s Razor:
“All things equal, the simplest solution is the best solution.”
Rack or Box Squat x6, x4, x8 🎥
Push 2x6
GHR x8
Pullover x8
3-Way Ankle x14
Pick Up Twist x8
Ab Wheel x10
Wrist Flex/Ext x14
Back Extension x8
I’ve decided to once again be apart of the whiteboard gang like coaches of old. No more sheets. The longer you do this the more you realize that those before you were onto something 😂😂.
Return to Play Process: 🧵🧵
This athlete suffered an ankle injury back in Dec and his RTP begin in early Jan. In my experience, Rebound L/R Avg Braking Force (asymmetry) is a good metric when it comes to ankle issues.
“Hops should never leave the program.”
-
@McInnesWatson
Limb velocity determines speed. The higher the speed, the higher the ground reaction forces, and higher GRF tend to transfer well to basketball.
Year to Year Model 🧵🧵
Off the top of the 🧠
Year 1 - GPP with a hint of SPP
1x20, 1x14, 1x8
Build habits. Does the athlete need to gain weight? Teach them to eat like an adult. Get stronger? Let the program run its course. Get in better shape? Emphasize zone 2 work.
25% will go the extra mile and work no matter what. Use every opportunity to teach.
50% will clock in and out but understand it’s important. Teach most moments but tolerate other moments.
25%, no matter what you do, don’t care. Tolerate and let life teach them the hard way.
A wise throwing coach once told an athlete in the 1970s, “Lift 3x a week; throw 4x a week for the next 8 years and you’ll be great.”
Respect those that came before.
Master the basics.
Keep the main thing the main thing.
Little and often over the long haul.
Dec 20: 90# 1x2
Dec 27: 90# 2x3
Progress can be difficult to comprehend but if you 1) Complete the reps, 2) Act like an adult, and 3) Keep coming back, things tend to work out 😤💪🏾
Did some clusters to end a brief post-season.
Accumulation that started back in June 22 or 23 lead to this point. As oppose to feeling like you have to “start over” in the post-season, if the accumulation is right, you can continue where you left off.
Guys did get stronger 📈
Today’s work took 15 mins:
A1 Press 3x3 175#
A2 Ankle Jumps 3x10
B1 RDL 3x3 315#
B2 Ankle Hops 3x8
C1 Chin Ups 3x3 55#
C2 Lateral CMJ 3x5
D1 Ab Wheel 2x5
D2 Frog Jumps 2x6
No warm up. Just working! Sometimes you have no choice but to get the reps in! Keep coming back!! 😤😤
We use trapbar to not only build strength but also introduce partial ranges.
Phase I: 20s Trapbar on Blocks
Phase II: 14s Trapbar on Floor
Phase III: 14s Rack Half Squat
Full squatting still occurs but one of the goals is to also strengthen the “realistic” ranges.
Novice athletes need to accumulate volume. Intermediate athletes need to accumulate volume and a bit of intensity at appropriate times. Advanced athletes need to accumulate intensity and bit of volume at appropriate times. It’s that simple.
During the pre-season, we increase our “on feet” conditioning in preparation for practice.
One of the ways we do this is by using “cutting tempos.”
- Builds specific tissues
- Technical mastery
- Improves capacity
Accumulate to elevate! 📈📈
What does a post practice lift look like? It depends. For
@lildjj0
it was…
A1 Chain Bench 3x3 🎥
A2 RDL 2x5 🎥
A3 GH Sit Ups 2x14 🎥
B1 Zone 2 Bike - 15 mins 🎥
Accumulate to elevate‼️
Post Practice -1 Lift
A1 Belt Squat 3x3 🎥
A2 Press 2x5 🎥
A3 ContraLateral Row 2x8 🎥
B1 GH Sit Up 2x14
B2 Back Extension 2x14
B3 Rack Walks 2x 🎥
Assault Bike 15 mins
In the midst of finishing up my athlete’s programming for the month of November, I can’t help but think about how far I’ve come. If y’all only knew what it took to get here. Let’s get it!!!
This was NOT a max out! 🚨
We simply did doubles and singles at 82-87% and had guys PR on bench using sub max intensity!
Would you believe me if I told you we stayed between 8-20 reps for 1-2 sets?
Keep it simple
Stay Consistent
Give them what they need
PSA for S&C Twitter: google “radicalization theory.” It’s like watching the first debate between Trump and Biden. We are more concerned with who’s right or wrong as oppose to WHAT IS BEST FOR OUR ATHLETES.
My evolution as a coach:
Had 30 mins to work out a group and we did…
Cutting Progressions
Half Court Sprints
Jumps
SDEs (2 exercises)
Squat, Push, and Hinge
Years ago it would of been straight lifting (nothing wrong with that), but I deem transference very important.
Submax testing using clusters.
Got this from my former boss at Northwestern. Love this set up and will continue to use it!
A successful sprint to build on the next one in July. Accumulate to elevate! 📈
20X1 Quarter Box Squat
I’ve found that athletes that are used 20s and 14s, tend to thrive in the higher rep ranges during VBT. Also helps to train in the optimal power angle.
Mon: 2x10 195# avg vel - 1.0 m/s
Wed: x14 205# avg vel - .99 m/s
@ToluSmith1
just staying in shape.
A big shout out to
@MartaviousRuss3
! Punching in the clock everyday since he’s been here!
Squat: 225 for 8
Row: 70 for 14
Incline Bench: 60 for 14
Stacking days in Starkvegas!! 📈📈
Hard work is, well, hard. It’s not flashy, goes unnoticed for awhile, and gets tested more than usual, but when it shines, it shines brightly.
If you’re passionate about something, be yourself and keep working. You WILL one day get rewarded.
Practical Periodization:
(I’ll mail your nickel
@CVASPS
) 🫡
- Give them what they need
- Meet them where they are
- Recruit athletic dudes 😂
By the way, 60% (older guys) and 90% (younger guys) of the program was 1x20. Now we have something to build on in the summer!
Sparring for our extensive tempos! 🥊
We may not win many official matches but we got some solid work in! Nothing wrong with mixing it up a bit!
These dawgs are working!
#everydayguys