The Do's and Don'ts of Being an Intern
Internships are the bridges that lead into a career in strength and conditioning whether it’s at the collegiate level or the private sector. If you want to pursue a career in this industry at some point you need to do an internship. If you don’t then you won’t gain hands on knowledge and you won’t be able to learn from people more experienced and smarter than you. Internships are almost a rite of passage. They mean you paid your dues. If you successfully completed an internship it means you worked hard every day, you cleaned equipment, you organized storage closets, you woke up at 4:00AM to be in the weight room for a 5:00AM team and then worked till 4:00PM, you read endlessly, you watched some of the most knowledgeable people you’ll ever meet coach, you got to ask those coaches questions, you got to listen to those coaches answer your questions, and if you were lucky those coaches threw you to the wolves and told you one morning “hey, I’m going to let you run women’s soccer today to see how you do” then they watched you fail miserably which gave you the opportunity to find out what your made of, then they showed you how to learn from your mistakes and how to do it better the next time! And you did it all for no money, just for the experience, the knowledge, the pride and to see if you had what it takes. It was all for the opportunity to gain the ability to help people and athletes become better versions of themselves. Or at least this is what it should be about; sadly a lot of people just want to get by. You’d be amazed by the amount of people who want to say they put in the work rather than just putting in the work. People who do the internship because they need the credit to graduate so they try to put in as little effort as possible instead of taking advantage of a great situation in which they can learn.
With all that said here are some do’s and don’ts to follow in order to get the best possible experience out of your internship…
1) Be Quiet
You are there to learn, not socialize. The coaches don’t care about how “crazy” your weekend was. Unless your asking questions there is no need for you to talk, until the coach states otherwise.
2) Understand That You Know Nothing/Be Open Minded
It’s important to grasp the concept that unless you have coaching experience your opinion doesn't hold much value. There’s nothing worse than someone who spouts off exercise science trivia but can’t goblet squat to save their life or teach it for that matter. It doesn’t matter what your training methodology is because it’s over for the time being. Take this time to step out of your comfort zone and learn something new. Is your internship somewhere that is Olympic based? Well if it is guess what? You are going to train the Olympic lifts for the next semester or year. If you go into the whole thing thinking you know it all then then you’ve demonstrated that you truly know nothing.
3) Do as Your Asked and Do it with a Smile on Your Face
Your job is whatever the strength coach you’re working under deems it to be. If they want you to go reorganize the whole storage closet then do it and whistle while you work, trust me it helps. If they want you to observe a training session then you need watch intently and have questions ready to ask them when the session is done. It’s a privilege that these coaches have taken you under their wing so show gratitude by performing each task no matter how minute it is to the best of your ability
4) Show Initiative
Sadly, this was my biggest problem during my internships. If someone told me to do something I definitely did it to the best of my ability. That was the problem though, most of the time I had to be told when to do something. If you see plates unorganized then go organize them before someone tells you. Is everything organized in the storage closet by the end of the day? If not, take it upon yourself to organize it. If the strength coach is running behind schedule and has a collegiate baseball team getting out of line then put your big boy/girl pants on and go lay down the law. One of your jobs is to assist the strength coach so they can focus on their job. If they have to stop what they’re doing in order to tell you what to do all the time then you’re just making things worse. Taking initiative shows leadership qualities and that you can handle yourself in all different situations.
5) Have Fun
I know that sounds a little hard after all the things I just mentioned BUT I promise you that if you observe the other rules listed number 5 will come naturally. If you can successfully observe the previous rules then the strength coach you work under will probably make your job a lot more enjoyable. If you don’t heed the other rules you’re going to have a really angry strength coach as a boss. Working under Sarah I learned this quick, that’s not a person you want angry at you; I have nightmares to this day…. joking…. But seriously. In all seriousness though, depending on where you end up for your internship you have been given a great opportunity to change yourself for the better. It’s important to do everything in your power to seize the opportunity.
Don't Leave Your Assistance Work Out in the Cold!
A house won’t be much of a house without nails, screws, and cement. I would say the same goes for your training as well. Consider your main movement of the day (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups) the building blocks of your house. With that first lift you have the makings of a giant mansion; now how will you hold it all together? This is where your “assistance” work or “supplemental” work comes in. The assistance work of your program act as the nails, screws, and cement that solidify the work you’ve put in with your main movement. They will provide your house the ability to stay strong and not crumble.
Before I go any further let me explain what qualifies as assistance work. If your main lift of the day is a squat then your assistance would be a variation thereof. This can be another bilateral movement or a unilateral movement; but almost always compound in nature and will mimic the movement pattern of your main lift. Examples of assistance work for a squat would be a box squat, front squat, split squat, BSS, etc. (these lifts can be used as a main movement but in this instance they would be considered assistance work). Your assistance work can be used for different reasons be it to reinforce the movement pattern of your main lift, bringing up weak points and imbalances, to make the main musculature stronger and bigger, etc. Regardless of the reason the main point becomes that assistance work will get you stronger and better at the main lifts which in the end will make you stronger overall. Plus it gives you yet another way to get your Hulk on and smash weight.
I’m not saying go out and work up to a heavy double on safety squat bar good mornings for an assistance lift, that would just be overkill. I believe you should still be moving some appreciable weight but the volume should be greater than your first lift (as long as your volume for your first lift wasn’t absurdly high). In order to work on your weaknesses or to get better at the movement pattern you need to practice. This would be the reason why it’s important to keep the volume higher; it provides a lot of practice.
How much volume are we talking here? You want to give yourself a rep range that is going to work on your specific goals. Is maximal strength your goal? Then I would probably keep the volume low (18-30 reps). Is hypertrophy your goal? Then I would probably keep the volume on the higher end (30-50 reps). Keep in mind I am speaking generally, there are many exceptions to what I just said based on a person’s strength level. One exception would be if you have a relatively young training age then I would stay at the low end and be focused on quality not quantity. What I like to do is pick a number of reps and flat load it over a few weeks. For example, if I picked 24 reps for my total volume then my sets/reps would go something like, week 1: 6x4, week 2: 5x5, and week 3: 4x6. This way I can stay at the same volume while hitting it in different ways each week. Mark Bell has talked about this before and I think it’s a great way to go about programming your assistance lifts.
The tricky part in all this is to keep from going overboard. As I stated before I feel you should be using heavy weight but that heavy weight should be appropriate for the volume you are working at. If your max deadlift is 315 then it’s probably not a good idea to try and do 300lbs RDL’s for 5X6. You would look awful doing it, if you could even do it at all. Good luck trying to groove a movement pattern using 95% of your deadlift max (yeah I did the math, what of it!). Have you ever read or heard a fitness professional say “just focus on your main movement; don’t worry so much about your assistance work?” The reason they say that is because if they told you to treat it with the same intensity as your main lift then you would probably load the bar as heavy as possible and the lift would look as ugly as this dog.
The problem with fitness professionals coaching that or writing that is now people seem to just go through the motions when it comes to assistance work; they feel it’s not important. Well I’m telling you now that it is. Just work hard and make the reps look smooth!
I know it can be challenging for people to get in their training session with their hectic schedule. Your main movement is primary and crucial but your assistance work is a close second. If you need to cut out anything then cut out your accessory work (accessory work would be something like tricep pushdowns, delt raises, facepulls; most of the time they are single joint movements done at a high volume, 30+ reps near the end of a training session). You really shouldn’t lose focus on anything while training. All your movements should be intense and deliberate. If you can’t devote the effort needed to an exercise then you shouldn’t do it at all. With that said, it’s time to show your assistance work some love, it has feelings too!
Basic Speed Development Program
The overwhelming request we get almost daily: Do you guys do speed training?
My answer: Hellz YES!
In an effort to compliment my running related warnings over at StrongGirlsWin.com from earlier today, I wanted to take this post to another level and get all geeked-out over some real-deal sprint training.You gotta present both sides of the coin, ya know?
While I've termed this post as "basic speed development," please DO NOT confuse that for BEGINNER speed development. There's a big difference. This sample program is for someone who has at least a year of regimented general training under their belt that is heavy on both sprint and weight training fundamentals.
Without further delay...
Basic Speed Development Program
- Day 1 - Starts, Speed, & Total Body Lift with Lower Body Emphasis
- Day 2 - Tempo Run
- Day 3 - Special endurance & Total Body Lift with Upper Body Emphasis
- Day 4 - Tempo Run
- Day 5 - Starts, Speed Endurance, Long jump/triple jump Technique (at high intensity and include as overall daily volume), & Total Body Lift (even split)
- Day 6 - Tempo Run
- Day 7 - Rest
Notes:
- Keep your intensity above 90% or below 65%! The in-between work is trash for developing true speed and will only increase the likelihood for injury, while decreasing the chance for improvements.
- Avoid the pitfalls of starting with high volume and low intensity. Rather begin with HIGH INTENSITY and LOW VOLUME. Then gradually increase volume while keeping the intensity high.
Sample Program Details:Monday - Speed Work: 2 x 3 x 20-30m accelerations (rest at least 4-minutes between reps); Med Ball Throws @ 6-10lbs: Squat to Overhead Push Throw x 6-8 + Keg Toss x 6-8 (at least 1-minute rest between each throw, we're after MAX EFFORT with every single toss/throw); Weights: Total body lift with lower body emphasis; Core: 100 reps (choose whatever floats your boat) Tuesday - Tempo Run: 8-12 x 100m (easy, basically a fast jog) + complete 10-20 V-Ups (or whatever core work you prefer) between each run - use the runs as the recovery between the V-ups Wednesday - Special Endurance: 2 x 150-300m with 20-25 min recovery; during the recovery (every 7-8 mins) do some light tempo runs, body weight calestenics, core, etc. the goal here is to simply stay warm during the break; Weights: Total body with upper body emphasis; Core: 200 reps (choose whatever floats your boat) Thursday - Tempo Run: Similar to Tuesday Friday - Speed Work: 2 x 3 x 20-30m accelerations (rest at least 4-minutes between reps); Med Ball Throws @ 6-10lbs: Squat to Slam x 6-8 + Falling Forward Chest Throw to Sprint x 6-8 (at least 1-minute rest between each throw, we're after MAX EFFORT with every single toss/throw); Weights: Total body lift (even split); Core: 100 reps (choose whatever floats your boat) ***After several weeks, longer sprints (50-60m) can be added to the speed workouts on Mondays and Fridays.
Good luck, may the Force be with you...
Get it? Force...
...I already said I was getting geeked-out over this one, so I think that was a pretty solid joke.
Are You Really Squatting Correctly?
We all know the cue of “drive your knees out” when squatting but have you ever had someone observe your squat or watched yourself on camera when squatting? If you haven’t you’d be surprised to find out that your knees are probably tracking incorrectly. When coaching the squat to our athletes and clients for the first time I notice two things that happen. The first thing is the knees just do not drive out at all leading to improper tracking and you get something that looks like this…
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As you can see from the video the knees never track with the middle of the feet and you are left with a continuous valgus collapse. This is due to a number of reasons (poor glute strength, lack of body awareness, tight adductors) but mostly because people grow out of the habit of squatting correctly because they simply stop doing it over the years. Yes, it is true that if you don’t use it you lose it. We all at one time possessed the ability to squat correctly we just don’t do any up keep and then quickly forget how to do it.
Anyways, after seeing this I'll tell the person for the next set that as they lower they need to actively drive their knees out or “towards the wall”. This is when I notice the second thing that typically goes wrong during a squat which you can observe from the video below.
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This time you’ll see that yes the knees actively drive out but they drive out way to much at the beginning, they will shoot in as they get close to the bottom, then will shoot in once they switch to the concentric portion. Cue face in palm…
So what do you do now? When it comes to this I will simply ask the person what they feel is going on with their lower body throughout the movement. Undoubtedly they will say it feels weird or it feels like they are actively driving their knees out. I’ll go on to tell them what is actually going on and/or film them to show them. Most of the time I don’t need to film because I will explain what I want to see happen on the next set. I'll say, “On the next one I don’t want you to drive your knees out until you feel you are half way down. Once you feel you’re about half way I want you to really overcompensate by driving your knees out about twice as hard as you feel you need to”. What I’ll get out of this is exactly what I was looking for which is the knees tracking with the “middle” toe of the foot throughout the whole movement as you can see in the video below.
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It’s amazing how well this has worked but also a little crazy. It takes someone literally trying to overcompensate twice as much from what they think “feels right” in order to get them to squat correctly. I’ll ask the person how that felt and they will always say “really weird!” My immediate response is well that’s actually exactly what it should look like and eventually the more you do it the more it will start to feel right.
I encourage you to have someone look at your squat who knows what they are doing or have someone record you so you can make sure you are squatting correctly. If your knees aren’t tracking correctly you probably won’t get much stronger and you will also be setting yourself up for injuries later on.
Hope this helps!
3 Awesome Things I've Learned...
I’ve been in the strength and conditioning field for a very short time; luckily I have luck on my side and ended up surrounded by very smart people. Whether it’s coaching, watching my colleagues coach, reading, or training myself I consistently learn something new every day. With that said here are 3 awesome things I’ve learned both as a coach and as someone who trains.
- Keep things simple…
If you’re an inexperienced lifter or you’re dealing with an inexperienced athlete don’t try and get to crazy; you’re not and their not as advanced as you think. Squatting (bodyweight, goblet, barbell), deadlifting (kettlebells, trap bar, straight bar), and pressing (pushups, bench press, overhead press) are the best ways to gain strength, power, and body awareness. If you are just starting out or are coaching someone who is just starting out you will be much better off refining these motor patterns, using progressive overload, and coupling them with unilateral movements like split squats, stepback lunges, bowler squats, single leg balancing. I don’t care if someone is 8 years old or 50 years old these movements form the foundation for athletics and everyday life and should be learned proficiently. Things like powercleans or Turkish getups are awesome but they are advanced. I see absolutely no need to give them to someone who cannot squat, deadlift, or do a pushup correctly. Milk the simplicity of the other exercises for all their worth; you or your athlete will be better for it in the long run.
- Get Experience Under the Bar…
In one of the first conversations I ever had with Sarah was her telling me I need to compete in powerlifting. Her reasons were it would help me learn more about strength and conditioning and it would make me a better coach. I wasn’t quite sure how competing would do both those things but I started training for powerlifting anyway. Time has gone on since then and looking back I completely understand what she was talking about. You cannot be a coach or a trainer unless you get experience under the bar. I was re-watching the EliteFTS BIG seminar with Jim Wendler the other day (which everyone should watch) and he said two things that really stuck with me. Keep in mind I’m paraphrasing here but he said something along the lines of “I have authority on the subject (strength training) because I’ve had a bar on my back, not because of a certification I have or something I read” and later “everything you want to know about lifting can be learned through training”. These are bold statements but they are absolutely true.
If you’re a coach you need to try everything out, you need to get some scratches on you or no one will take your advice. It’s like a tennis player telling you how to improve your golf swing because they read an article about it once, doesn’t make any sense. And if you’re just trying to train stop reading internet articles all day long and go put a barbell on your back and squat it, go pull something heavy off the ground and then press something off your chest or over your head. You can listen all you want to this guy or this girl but the truth is you will NEVER know what works until you do it yourself. Get under the bar!
- Don’t Ever be Content and Always Have Fun…
This is where I feel people lose it. No one should be content whether it’s your knowledge base, your numbers, the money your business brings in, your teaching abilities, it doesn’t matter always strive to be better. If you’re a coach you shouldn’t ever come to a place where you say “I know everything I need to know” because you don’t. The greatest strength coaches in the world still educate themselves and then apply it. This is what’s going to make you and your athletes better. If you’re just a person trying to get stronger that’s great but once you hit a specific goal, don’t stop there, make a new one. I’m not saying don’t be happy about what you’ve done because that’s ridiculous. You should be happy about what you’ve accomplished and you should reflect on those achievements but strive for more.
This leads into my next point of having fun while you’re doing all of this. There hasn’t been one day where I haven’t had fun training or coaching. Are there days where I’m tired and don’t necessarily feel like going to train? Yeah, but by the end I had fun and am glad I did it. And as far as coaching or teaching for that matter, if you’re not enjoying helping people get better and realize their potential than you need a new career. That has been the best part of coaching and teaching for me is that I can truly have fun. I can joke around with the clients and athletes and I can help them reach their goals. People want to be so serious and mope around all the time, I don’t get it. We have all had some bad stuff happen in our lives but its our ability to overcome that makes life great. Life is truly short and we need to enjoy it and have some fun while we’re living it. With that said, I’ll leave you with this… because it’s funny!
A Tool for the Toolbox
An awesome aspect about being a strength coach is you get to watch great coaches do what they do best and at the same time be taught by them yourself. You have the pleasure of learning and then applying this knowledge gained to your athletes and you alike. The following deadlift refinement technique is not something I made up; again it’s something that I learned from the awesome coaches I’ve worked with and something I’ve been able to utilize with the athletes and my own training. Try this to fix up your deadlift technique… The volume is a little low for some reason (my apologies); better than last time though…
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A few supplementary notes…
- This is not something to go super heavy on. This is a tool to refine your deadlift technique.
- Keep the bar weight light but use bumper plates; as I mentioned in the video it was only 95lbs of bar weight.
- As far as band tension goes you shouldn’t be using anything more than a mini band.
- Use this during your warm-up or during your off days as a way to improve your form.
Also the below video is definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for some motivation before going to train. The video is of Jeremy Frey, a strength coach and powerlifter from EliteFTS. This guy is ridiculously smart when it comes to training and STRONG!
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