As a coach, my job is to teach and encourage my athletes through a lot of changes, hard workouts, higher expectations, the occasional injury, and hopefully, successful competitions. Every now and then however, I have an athlete that gets a little too comfortable with the status quo, watches too many Youtube videos or Instagram tips, or simply starts to believe their own bullshit. This is when a reality check becomes […]
We never question why we might find a thing fascinating. Or beautiful. We just do. We are drawn to it. We fantasize about it. We ascribe qualities to it that may or may not exist in reality. Most of it exists in the eye of the beholder and unless we are a gifted artist or poet, we can rarely describe exactly what it is that holds our attention so […]
Teaching kids to work hard these days involves a lot of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is getting them to keep trying when they just aren’t as fast, strong, or skilled as their peers in whatever sport they are trying to excel in. What is actually known about kids and development is that a lot of kids just show up that way. Puberty, the great equalizer, takes a lot […]
So, before we get into what we need to do to improve our fitness, let’s talk about what it actually is. Forget for a moment that all the glossy magazine images and Instagram posts don’t exist and let’s simply define fitness as what it is and how it applies to the human body. Fitness is the ability to complete a task. And so, just like that, you have to think […]
For a lot of people, their fitness goals revolve around improving body composition. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I’ve been sitting on my couch overeating and watching bad television. However, its not all bad. After binging on a few episodes of “Hoarders”, I was inspired by my next TV binge of “My 600 lb Life”. The struggles to commit to life-changing, and often life-saving behavior serves as […]
Before becoming a mom, and a trainer, and a coach, I spent about 10 years working as a research scientist in a variety of labs. I’ve worked in both the university and commercial setting as well as both medical and environmental labs and with a number of different teachers, mentors, students, and objectives. The most wonderful thing about working in a lab as a research scientist is that regardless of […]
As a coach, I know a few things about human nature. Understanding the individuals you are working with is key to motivating them to improve performance, push beyond their current abilities, and most importantly, believe they are capable. And I’m not just talking about confidence here, there are many athletes out there who are confident in the tasks they already know they can do and can deliver a consistent performance […]
Alex Van Houten of the ISSA (International Sports Sciences Association) and Defining Dad Bod interviewed Dave and Sara on some basic questions about developing foundational strength and coaching. See the interview below.
We have some more video presentations and interviews in the pipeline. What would you like to hear us talk about? What questions do you have? And who would you like to hear more from? Leave your questions in the comments or feel free to email us at practicalstrengthfortrainers@gmail.com
So, last Fall was tough. After a full year of coaching and competing myself, I ended up coaching my sons’ cross country team while simultaneously training a few lifters and throwers in the early mornings in addition to all the other teaching, parenting, etc. I do. So, when all that was done and all the meets were over, I was feeling pretty beat up. I hadn’t recovered from the damage […]
