10 Lessons from 10+ Years of Strength & Conditioning

1. The cultivation of your weight room culture is far more important than even the most meticulously curated program.

The standards we create as coaches and the consistency to which we hold athletes accountable to those standards will be the life blood of our programs. When ranking factors for developing a plan remember that a poor program executed excellently is better than an excellent program executed poorly. Create the optimal culture as priority number one, everything else will fall into place from there.

2. Usually when I start to get too complex with my athletes, I am reminded that being brilliant at the basics is largely undefeated.

Consistency is the mark of a CHAMPION. Athletes will improve not by completing workouts or movements but by mastering them. Mastery takes time, you cannot rush development. Little deposits daily compound and lead to radical change down the road. Be consistent at the basics, look up in a year and you will love where you end up. The KISS method is a good one to keep in mind when working with groups of athletes. Keep It Simple Stupid. I have to remind myself of this often.

3. People are the priority. Nothing will ever make more of a lasting impression than the way you make your athletes feel.

As coaches, we can never forget that nothing is more important than the people we work with. The kids we coach will forget much of what we teach them, the specifics and what we made them do but they will never forget the way we make them feel. The greatest thing about strength and conditioning is not getting people stronger or faster but equipping them with character and resiliency for life, being there for them on days where they need someone and impacting them to be the best version of themselves.

4. Organization is more important than programming. One can exist without the other and one cannot.

It matters little how complex or extraordinary the plan is if it cannot be carried out. Prioritizing the organization of our program is one of the most important things we can do as coaches. Develop strategies that allow athletes to be their best, move through efficiently and maximize the allotted time.

5. Ego will be the fastest exit off of success’ highway. It’s not about you. Never be too “big” to help or learn from others. You are as good as the way you treat people.

The first half of my career my ego consumed me. I was living to be praised so I could feel that I was “good enough” as a coach. This made my career about me and what my athletes could do for me in terms of my value. When we think we are important, specifically more important than others and prioritize as such, it can lead to the treatment of others as second rate and there is no greater failure in life. The best thing I ever learned was that my ego was my enemy. I am not perfect at this but continue to work daily to deny myself and put others — athletes, coaches I serve, janitors, administrators, anyone I encounter — before me.

6. The more I learn the less I realize I know.

I can remember having a discussion with a co-worker in my first few years as a strength coach and telling him that I was the best strength coach alive. The scariest part was not that I had very little experience and an even smaller knowledge base but that I actually believed it. This goes hand in hand with dropping ego. Only when I began to learn more, be open to what I could learn from those around me did I realize I had just scratched the surface. Become a life long learner, success is a journey not a destination.

7. Strength is great but not if being strong means you don’t move well. Sport performance will always supersede weight room performance.

The weight room is not the end all be all, how the weight room allows athletes to be better at their sport is. Before we get caught up in the numbers and putting maxes up on the wall we would benefit from taking a step back and ensuring that what we are creating in the weight room is translating to on field success. Strength is only part of the puzzle, not every piece.

8. No amount of on-field success will ever match the influence that we get to have on young peoples’ lives. Prioritize accordingly.

Disclaimer: we should not find identity in our careers, we as people are far more than what we do. Keeping this in perspective it is a zero sum game if the end goal is just to win games. Winning lives is much more important and long lasting. When I step back and look at my program as a whole I want to weigh the impact we are having on young people as the most important factor, wins and on field success usually come as a byproduct but rarely does this happen the other way around.

9. “It depends” is frustratingly usually the right answer to most questions I get from coaches about their S&C programs. There are very few absolutes; context is key.

Strength and conditioning is not always cookie cutter, as a matter of fact it never is. This concept is — at its core — about keeping an open mind. The amount of factors that determine what strategy to deploy is often numerous. What works at one program may not work at another. Instead of looking for an answer as simple as plug and play, consider the appropriate factors — athletes training age, facility restrictions, weight room equipment, time, number of coaches and their experience, I could go on — and make the best decision that applies specifically to your situation.

10. Balance is important. Your family needs you just as much as the kids you work with do.

Having kids of my own really allowed me to understand this. I know the kids that I train need me and that my role is important in their lives but they don’t need me as much as my son and my daughter need me. Work to live. Don’t live to work. This does not mean that we can’t be passionate and fully invested in what we do in our careers,. What it does mean is that we create healthy boundaries to invest time in our families, mental health, spiritual health and physical health at the same time.

Hopefully this can help someone just beginning in this profession or another. Some of these lessons weren’t learned easy, but I am grateful for this journey and wake up everyday excited to continue!