Emily Metz

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” when they...

“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, it can quickly...

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 much range of...