athlete

You may be eager to venture off on your journey to college athletics, and college is one of the most exciting and influential times in your life. However, some of you are curious what is expected of you once you get there, or what you expect to happen during this time. In this video blog, I outline some things that...

Evidence and research can be a great thing. It is the basis for our never-ending quest for knowledge. But what if I told you relying on evidence and research could be harmful or even set you back in your training? I would venture to say most people would highly doubt such an opinion. After all, SCIENCE is ALWAYS RIGHT! I am not here to argue the validity of research, but I am here to ask if you need to be absolutely assured by scientific evidence that something is right before you place it into your training program? In my opinion, the answer to this question is no, not really. Let me explain. Continue reading →

Bill Belichick does it again! No Tom Brady, no problem! There’s no denying the dude can coach some football! 3rd string rookie QB last Thursday night and they beat the Texans, who many consider one of the better teams in the NFL. Continue reading →

“Just throw strikes. Don’t worry about velocity. Just get lots of out… Win lots of games… And the college recruiters will see you’re a winner and they’ll want you to be a part of their program.” That’s what I told my son, Ty. I couldn’t have been more wrong... Continue reading →

Take a look around at your gym, weight room, or training facility. Do you see a squat rack? Good. What about a bench, free weights, or maybe plyometric boxes? Awesome. Maybe if you’re one of the fortunate ones, you see some resistance bands, medicine balls, or kettlebells? Terrific. This means your place for training is like 100% of the population. This can be a good thing. You have strength equipment, speed equipment, and power equipment. This sounds like it covers all the aspects in being a great athlete. However, the majority of training programs lack the single critical component in creating the ELITE athlete. This is of course being prepared for every chaotic movement involved in sports. Continue reading →

I was very fortunate growing up that my parents demonstrated and constantly reminded my two sisters and me that if we were willing to work hard and work smart, we could succeed at anything we set our minds to. They never said it would be easy, as our life raising cattle on a ranch in Nebraska frequently demonstrated.  As I often tell my athletes, if it were easy, everyone would be able to do it and then the rewards would not be as great. Continue reading →

As I have mentioned in one or two of my past posts, I am on the email list to receive newsletters from Brad McLeod of SealgrinderPT.com. One of the recent emails I received reminds me of a saying Coach Wolforth uses frequently, “If you do what everybody else does, you will get what everybody else gets; which most of the time is not much.” But Brad put a different twist on it. He stated, “If you want to keep getting what you've been getting – keep on doing what you're doing. But if you want to see change - You have to break the pattern.NOW.” Continue reading →

In my post last week I discussed the arm positions that all pitchers should travel through during their delivery if they want to maximize the efficiency of their movement patterns and minimize the stress put on their arm. For the purposes of a quick recap, the 3 key positions that a pitcher should work to make sure he is in are: 1) At foot strike the elbow should be slightly below the shoulder. 2) At foot strike the forearm should be at or inside of 90 degrees with the arm. 3) As the pitcher rotates toward the plate and begins to square his chest up with the catcher his glove side should firm up to provide something stable to rotate into. Continue reading →

For those of you familiar with Oates Specialties you know that we are always searching for new explosive exercises to train athletes. One of our newest products, the TAP Slam Net, is a tool that allows an athlete to perform ballistic, multi-directional exercises that forces him to focus on controlling his body while moving at top speeds. Continue reading →

In my last blog I discussed an athlete’s ability to train his neuromuscular pathways in order to improve athleticism. If an athlete specifically focuses on exercises that require quick, explosive movements, he can create more efficient paths between the brain and the muscle, resulting in greater athleticism. Today I want to share a few pieces of equipment that can help an athlete train to move his (or her) body more quickly and become a better athlete (improving those pathways). Continue reading →