Progressions and regressions aren’t equations. Athletes don’t automatically earn the next exercise after a set amount of time. Exercises are skills that need to be taught and learned. Progress or regress based on the athlete’s ability, not an arbitrary timeline.

Weight room design is one of the most important decisions in a team setting. If equipment collects dust or only allows one athlete to use it at a time, sell it and reinvest in your program. Build for athlete development, not recruiting tours.

Power is a quality not a method. Jumping, Olympic lifts, and med ball throws are exercises and using them doesn’t mean you’re developing power. Understand what you’re trying to develop before choosing how to train it. Turner et al. (2020) eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/…

Stop worrying about pleasing other coaches or getting their approval. Do your job. Make decisions based on what your athletes need, and stand behind them.

Some methods will never be practical in the setting you work in. Recognizing that and finding another way to develop the qualities your athletes need is what separates good coaches.

When coaching hockey, I individualized exercises across the roster based on what each athlete could perform pain-free with good technique. Same movement pattern, different exercise if needed. The goal was to develop the same physical qualities, not force exercises on athletes.

You don’t need a more complicated training program. You need a program that fits your goals, your schedule, your training history, and your ability to recover. Then you need a coach who knows when to adjust it. That’s the difference between getting a program and being coached.

Some strength coaches confuse intimidation with coaching. Yelling at and embarrassing athletes doesn’t make you a better coach. Research links controlling coaching to poorer athlete motivation. You’re there to teach athletes and help them improve. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3172…

Many times coaches overcomplicate things in the weight room. Get your setup right, get in the right position, and learn how to execute the exercise. Before changing an exercise, make sure you’re actually doing it right.

Understanding your sport’s demands should guide your training. For example, hockey players need to accelerate, change direction, produce force, and repeat high-intensity efforts throughout a game. Train to develop the qualities those demands require. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3651…

One of the biggest mistakes in S&C is assuming an athlete needs to be good at an exercise before it can benefit them. My job is to teach athletes how to lift, build proficiency, and develop the physical qualities they need for their sport. Don’t confuse skill with usefulness.

Saying athletes aren’t good in the weight room, so we shouldn’t try to make them better, is lazy coaching. Do better. James et al. (2023) outline five strength qualities. Identify what your athletes need and train for the demands of their sport. Study: ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2022-2…

Strength training builds an athlete’s capacity to handle the demands of sport. It can also reduce injury risk. Lauersen et al. (2018) found strength-training prevention programs reduced sports injury risk by 66% across six studies. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3013…

Speaking up for your athletes shouldn’t come with the fear of getting fired. If a practice or training decision puts their health at risk, it’s your job to speak up. Athlete welfare has to come before keeping everyone happy.

Coaches don’t struggle because they lack information. They struggle because they don’t understand the principles that help them decide what to apply, when to apply it, and how to make it work in their setting.

I used to read every book and watch every S&C lecture I could. Then I realized I wasn’t applying much of it. My coaching improved when I stopped chasing more information and started applying what I learned with my athletes.

One of the easiest ways to create an amazing training atmosphere is getting to know your athletes favorite songs and creating a playlist for lifts.

One thing I learned coaching college athletes is that you can’t let your weight room progressions dictate what an athlete is allowed to do. Arbitrary rules and restrictions can hold athletes back before they’ve had a chance to make real progress.

Humans crave certainty. Coaches love to say “it depends” in S&C. We want to believe there’s a right answer if we study enough. But are we trying to better understand human performance, or just trying to make uncertainty more comfortable?

When I first started working with hockey players, I read all the books and watched the lectures of elite coaches. Nothing prepared me more than watching them practice and compete. That’s when I started to understand what they actually needed from me in the weight room.