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Not every training session needs to leave you destroyed to be a GREAT session As kids, we're like sponges. We absorb what we see, hear, and experience. The way we learn to train when we're young can shape our relationship with exercise for the rest of our lives. If all we're taught is that a good workout means sweating, throwing up, or pushing ourselves until our legs are shaking uncontrollably, we're setting ourselves up for failure. Why? Because this isn't the relationship

Whether you’re a high school runner preparing to compete in college, a collegiate athlete chasing a PR, or an adult who simply loves to run, your strength training should have one primary goal: Make you a better runner, not a more tired one. Running already gives your body a lot of what it needs. My job as a strength coach is to identify what running doesn't give you and fill those gaps. Running is a lot of single-leg work Think about what happens every time you run. You la

Conditioning can seem complicated when we start talking about the ATP-PC system, glycolysis, aerobic metabolism, lactate, VO₂ max, and all the other terminology that comes with energy systems. But you don't need to overcomplicate it. At its core, conditioning is about manipulating intensity and duration to emphasize the energy system you want to train. And before we go any further, remember: All of your energy systems are always working. You don't completely shut one system o

We hear the term “hybrid training” everywhere now. But what does it actually mean? And why are so many people training this way? Hybrid training isn’t just a trend or a random combination of workouts. When it’s done intentionally, it’s a way of training that prepares you for whatever your life demands. So, what makes training “hybrid”? Simply put, hybrid means a mix. Instead of focusing on developing one physical quality, hybrid training intentionally develops multiple adapta

When we talk about exercise as we get older, we often focus on strength. And strength is incredibly important. But there's another physical quality we need to pay attention to: power. Power is one of the first physical qualities that tend to decline with age, which is one reason why intentionally training it can be so valuable. Strength vs. Power Strength is essentially how much force you can produce. Power is how quickly you can produce that force. And that difference matte

Every year, athletes return to campus and suddenly the goal becomes: More running. More lifting. More conditioning. All with no direction or proper progression. As if the purpose of preseason is to see how much an athlete can tolerate before the season starts. I think we should look at it differently. The goal of preseason is to prepare athletes to PERFORM. Not to survive training. Not to make them as sore as possible. Perform. Your athletes are not necessarily “out of shape”

“Chest up.” “Brace.” “Knees out.” “Push through the floor.” “Control it.” “Breathe.” “Stay tight.” “Drive through the ground.” At some point, we have to ask ourselves… Are we actually helping the athlete, or are we just talking? One of the biggest mistakes I see coaches make is giving an athlete too many cues at once. And the thing is, the cues might all be correct. But if you give an athlete five different things to think about while they’re trying to perform a movement,

If you’re constantly feeling “tight,” your first instinct might be to stretch. You stretch your hips. You stretch your hamstrings. You stretch your shoulders. And maybe you feel better for a little while, but the tightness keeps coming back. So what if you don’t actually need to stretch more? Sometimes, that feeling of tightness isn’t a lack of flexibility. It may be a lack of strength and control. Strength Training Can Be Your Mobility Training Mobility isn’t just about how

One of the most common questions coaches hear is: “Coach, what weight should I use?” Percentage-based training is a great tool, especially when we have a reliable 1RM to base those percentages off of. If we know an athlete’s 1RM, we can use percentages to prescribe training loads and create a clear target for the session. But even with a known 1RM, I still like to use RIR (Reps In Reserve) in combination with percentage-based training. Why? Because an athlete’s 1RM doesn’t ac

If you ask most people what it means to be healthy, they'll usually mention: Exercise. Go to the gym. Lift weights. Go for a run. While exercise is incredibly important, it's only one piece of the puzzle. Health, and long-term performance, is built on four pillars: Sleep Nutrition Mental Health Physical Exercise Whether you're an athlete chasing peak performance, a parent trying to keep up with your kids, or someone who simply wants to feel better each day, these four areas w

The Problem: Too Much Output One thing I see with female athletes is they are incredibly driven. They’re practicing, lifting, doing extra conditioning, playing their sport, and trying to improve every single day. More ≠ Better The issue isn’t that you aren’t working hard enough. The issue is that your training stress may be exceeding your ability to recover. The Empty Tank Training Side: Recovery Side: Lifting 1. Sleep Practice/Games

More Isn't Better One of the biggest mistakes I see athletes and coaches make during speed training comes down to two things: Doing too much volume. Not taking enough rest between sprints. If every sprint leaves you exhausted, you're probably not training speed anymore. Many athletes wear fatigue as a badge of honor, believing that if they're breathing hard or drenched in sweat, they had a productive speed session. But speed training isn't about how tired you get, it's about

A lot of people stay active by walking, doing yoga, or taking Pilates classes. Those are all great forms of exercise, and if you enjoy them, keep doing them. But if your goal is to build and maintain strong bones, they aren't enough on their own. Here's why. Bone Adapts to Stress Bone is living tissue. Just like muscle, it adapts to the demands placed on it. So, the question becomes: What tells bone to adapt? There are two primary sources of mechanical stimulus that help your

How One Molecule Supports Muscle, Bone, Brain, and Healthy Aging When most people hear the word creatine, they picture athletes, jacked men, or someone just trying to build muscle in the gym. But here's the thing... Creatine isn't just a sports supplement. It's an energy supplement. Every cell in your body relies on energy to function, whether you're lifting weights, chasing your kids around the house, going for a walk, concentrating at work, or simply getting through your da

The hardest part about being a strength coach isn’t designing a program. It’s creating a plan that is engaging, purposeful, and effective over time. That’s where the art of coaching comes in. Because the truth is, great training can be mundane sometimes. The fundamentals aren’t always flashy. They aren’t always exciting. But mastering the basics, and doing them consistently, is what creates results. Now, does that mean training has to be boring? Absolutely not. Good coaching

One of our core principles at Cadet Athletic Performance is Leadership. While we want to build better athletes, we believe building leadership Is key to that process. This is especially important in youth athlete development, where habits, behaviors, and identity are still being formed. The goal isn’t just to improve performance today, but to help athletes develop traits that carry over into sport, and life. And importantly, this is developed in the training environment, not

Recovery is where we actually gain the benefits of the hard work we put into training. Recovery isn't just cold plunges, saunas, cupping, massages, or fancy recovery gadgets. Those things are nice perks to have access to, and if they work for you, then great. But the best modality to improve recovery and performance in and outside of your sport is FREE. It's sleep.

Just because you’re no longer throwing on a jersey or competing in an organized sport setting doesn’t mean you should stop challenging yourself. Training for health is important. But if we’re being honest, training only to “stay healthy” can start to feel repetitive over time. Sometimes the best thing you can do is put something on the calendar that gives your training purpose outside of the weight room. A goal creates excitement. It gives you direction. It makes training fee

The “Slow Cooker” Approach to Long-Term Performance One of the biggest misconceptions in strength and conditioning is that a training session only “counts” if you leave feeling completely exhausted. Many athletes and parent's associate: Heavy sweating Extreme soreness High heart rates Total exhaustion with a productive workout. But fatigue alone is not the goal. There’s a major difference between working out and training. Working Out Working out is often based around: Chasing

Why You Should Still Lift During the Season We put in so much work in the off season, then lose a lot of those adaptations when we stop training during the season. And with youth sports, kids are playing ALL the time. Is there truly ever an off season for them? Everything has its own context but in general let’s look at the following 3 graphs to help explain what your training should look like in season versus off season and why I still strongly encourage you to lift during s