NSCA’s Coaching Podcast

Cory Kennedy, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the Institut National du Sport du Québec in Montreal, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about the importance of monitoring athletes and the equipment used to keep track of their well-being. Cory Kennedy, CSCS, is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the Institut National du Sport du Québec in Montreal, which is one of Canada’s Olympic training institutes. In his current role, he helps support a variety of teams and individual athletes on their Olympic journey through strength and conditioning, monitoring, and other testing support. Diving and women’s hockey are two teams he is heavily involved with right now. Follow Cory on Twitter and Instagram: @coryksandc | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “That number doesn’t matter if you don’t know what the [force] plate is telling you.” 11:30 “Monitoring doesn’t really matter if it’s not helping your athletes win.” 14:15 “I always try to explain to the athlete that I am responsible for the result every time. I’ve found in the past that athletes feel pressured; when a measure doesn’t go up, sometimes they get down on themselves.” 20:19 “A master’s [degree] is non-negotiable.” 31:58 “Get connected, talk to people, and try to volunteer as much as you can.” 33:04

Darnell Clark, Director of Strength and Conditioning at Charlotte Country Day School in Charlotte, NC, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about his path to becoming a high school strength and conditioning coach, the structure of his high school (Charlotte Country Day) strength and conditioning program, and giving back to the industry.Darnell Clark, CSCS,*D, RSCC*D, has been the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Charlotte Country Day School (CCDS) in Charlotte, NC since 2004. In this role, Clark and his staff are responsible for the daily development and systematic implementation for 36 junior varsity and varsity teams (24 sports). In 2014, Clark was the recipient of the NSCA’s High School Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award. His program at CCDS has earned the NSCA’s Strength of America Award for eight consecutive years. He has had the privilege of coaching 10 NSCA High School Strength and Conditioning All-Americans and over 150 college-bound student-athletes during his time at CCDS. From 2013 – 2016, he served as the NSCA’s North Carolina State Director and presently is the NSCA Southeast Regional Coordinator. Clark received his Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where he was a member of the football team, and his Master of Physical Education degree from Arizona State University. Follow Darnell on Twitter: @coachclark44 | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “It’s an exciting time for the field of strength and conditioning with the growth of high school and tactical programs.” 4:03“I had to bring teams on team by team and convince coach by coach because it’s not mandated for them to train, and 14 years later we are training every team, including the dance team and cheerleading team.” 7:14“There are a lot more people wanting jobs than there are jobs available.” 8:25“There is a disconnect between physical education programs and exercise science programs.” 9:14“You need to have that science background, but if you cannot communicate or convey what you want the kids to do, it’s going to be pretty difficult for you to be an effective coach.” 9:52“You need to develop a repertoire of communications skills and cues and the only way to do that is by coaching and being taught to coach.” 10:59“That’s how philosophies are built is through experience.” 32:11

Megan Evans, Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning for Olympic Sports at Virginia Tech, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about the journey from student-athlete to assistant director. Megan Evans, MEd, PhD, CSCS is in her eighth year as Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning for Olympic Sports at Virginia Tech. Her team responsibilities are Women's Soccer, Women's Lacrosse, Softball, Women's Tennis, and Men's and Women's Diving. Prior to her hiring in 2009 she worked as a graduate assistant under Coach Mike Gentry and Terry Mitchell for four years. She earned her Master's Degree in 2007 and PhD in 2014. Megan was a softball player at Virginia Tech from 2002 - 2005 and still holds numerous season and career records. She was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in the fall of 2017.Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes "Evaluate everything that you do, have purpose for it, and if it fits your system, great, but don’t be so wrapped up in, ‘oh, I have to use this technology to use this technology.’” (Discussing Michael Gentry’s philosophy on technology) 6:05“[Student-athletes] are specializing so much younger now that we’re having to go back and teach basic fundamental movements of the body and re-teach it that we didn’t have to do before.” 13:09“The content here (Coaches Conference) is obviously far more pinpointed on what we want. We don’t have to hunt through the different speakers and say, ‘hey, this is the one I want to go to.’ It’s a little more clear.” 14:49“You’re getting a lot more conversation and intimacy within the networking end of things.” (Talking about Coaches Conference) 15:17“For me, it’s about connecting to the student-athlete and helping them not only develop as an athlete, but to develop as people. These are very moldable, young people at 18 to 22 years old.” 16:46“People don’t care what you know until they know that you care and if you’re treating these young people as people first and then athletes, that’s when you’re going to reach them.” 17:20“My goal for when [athletes] leave is, ‘did they learn something from me?’” 18:12Advice to newcomers in the field: “Don’t give up.” 22:44

Steve Rassel, Associate Athletic Director and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Webber International University, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about how to develop staff and interns to help them be successful coaches, and about work-life balance. Stephen Rassel, CSCS,*D, RSCC has served at Webber International University since 2009, and is currently the Associate Athletic Director and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach. Prior to that, Rassel’s career began with the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball (MLB) team, followed by a stint with the Chicago Cubs MLB team. Rassel has spoken several times for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) on creating and developing a strength and conditioning department, and was named a finalist for the 2017 NSCA College Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year award. Rassel also serves on the NSCA College Coaches Special Interest Group (SIG) Executive Committee.Find Steve on Twitter: @StephenRassel | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “We have to have two main boxes checked off for us before we dive too deep into what they can offer, specialization-wise, even at the intern level: it’s culture and it’s growth gauge.” 5:34 “Everyone talks about culture, but you just have to keep in mind that you want to hire for culture and train for skill and that’s where the mentorship comes into play. You have to have a system that can equip them with what they need if they can bring the intangibles to the table.” 5:45 “One thing we have to make sure we keep in the forefront of our mind as coaches is that we have to take ownership right where we’re at and keep fighting, scrapping, and scratching to find ways to keep pushing and getting where we’re at." 8:17 “If you could see what hurdles we had to go through to get where we’re at, that the short-term sacrifices for the long-term gain strategies that we’ve had to implement, and the hats I’ve had to wear to get to what we’re doing.” 9:51 “Challenge yourself and reach out and connect because that brainstorming approach and us starting to link up and work together, even though we are at different places and different situations, it starts to get you in a different place mentally and these little strategies here and there can help build that momentum.” 10:27 “You look at the things in front of you and attack those as much as you can.” 13:31 “You have to maximize being great at what you currently have on your plate.” 14:30 “What if the reason I am seeing this problem is because I am the one equipped to try to get it done?” 15:00 “I challenge people to have multiple checks and balances systems when it comes to feedback.” 36:30

Bob Alejo, Director of Sports Science at Power Lift, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about how Bob got into Strength and conditioning when the field was in its early stages of development. Bob shares his experience and gives advice on how to succeed in the strength and conditioning field.Bob Alejo, CSCS, RSCC*E, has been the Director of Sports Science at Power Lift since July 2017. From 2011 – 2017 he was the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball (MLB) team, a position he also held from 1993 – 2001. Prior to rejoining the Oakland Athletics, Alejo was the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 2005 – 2008. From 1984 – 1993, Alejo served as a strength and conditioning coach at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he worked with 23 men’s and women’s teams. Follow Bob on Twitter: @Coach_Alejo | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and I hated going home because you had so much fun being around that kind of energy.” 6:57“Buy-in from athletes didn’t happen the first day, and it really didn’t happen the first few years, but as time went on the guys who were lifting kept lifting and they got better at that because there was someone really driving it.” 15:28“I feel like if I was to put my hand on…a philosophy or method that we used that no one else did was that we lifted as heavy as we could all the time.” 18:36“You have to do what suits your facility, what suits your athletes and what you can get done that’s going to create a stimulus and help them get better.” 19:55“The sets and reps are the easiest things that you’ll ever do. It’s the stuff that you do outside of it that make the sets and reps come to life.” 21:09“It’s a little bit different on how you get there, but the qualities of the coach themselves, I think are as relevant as they were [in the past]. I think you have to be able to work with people and you have to be able to work with different socioeconomic backgrounds.” 22:14“We’re all selling something. In our case we’re selling our program, we’re selling my integrity that you’re going to follow.” 22:39“Run your weight room like a business because it is … You have to have a well-structured, organized program and that doesn’t mean necessarily the weight training. It means: how’s your staff act; what kind of personality do you want to represent; what kind of image are you going to portray?” 23:14“Be careful with what you say or what you write because somebody might believe it.” 53:36“I think scholarly work is important because, first of all, it teaches you how to speak … You put your thoughts together, you order them, you learn how to present it to people and you also learn how to write and inform somebody who doesn’t know what you know.” 55:50“If it takes you 100 words to explain something that should take 20, then you probably don’t know what you’re talking about.” 56:54

Liane Blyn, Director of Olympic Sports at Appalachian State University and world record holding powerlifter, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about what she tries to impart to interns to prepare them for the field, how being a Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) has benefitted her as a strength coach, and advice for up-and-coming strength and conditioning coaches.Liane Blyn is a highly sought-after strength and conditioning coach with over 20 years of experience as a strength coach, athletic trainer, business owner, and competitor. She is currently the Director of Athletic Performance-Olympic Sports at Appalachian State University. Previously, she coached at Franklin High School, Arizona State University, Boston College, University of Nevada-Reno, Parisi Speed School, and her own business, Athletic Based Training. She is a 14-time United States of America Powerlifting National Champion and team member, current International Powerlifting Federation (IBF) World Champion, and world record holder in the bench, deadlift, and total. Find Liane on Twitter: @lianeblyn | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “We’re trying to figure out how to take the… classroom application and bring it into… practice within the weight room.” 1:18“We want to try to put out the best interns possible.” 1:33“I don’t want to run an internship where… they get no actual practical experience out of it.” 2:17“We’re trying to set up an actual curriculum to where every single week, our student interns are learning something.” 2:27“My husband said enough is enough—he’s like ‘what do you want to do?’” 7:42“Meg Stone was my idol.” 8:32“I’m a coach—the hardest part about owning a business is all the business side of it.” 10:00On making the transition from private sector to high school: “I’m… someone who wants to be on the floor, who wants to have an impact on student-athletes.” 10:12“[I] had about 70 kids, and five years later… I had 613 kids in my [high school] summer program.” 11:09“Most head coaches don’t make great business owners.” 13:42“One of the best hires you can make as an athletic director is a strength and conditioning coach in your high school.” 14:55“[Being an ATC] has helped me say, ‘This is how we incorporate the reconditioning phase back into the weight room.’” 17:45“I think it’s an important piece of it for me, to be actually an athletic trainer, especially if you’re at a smaller school.” 18:06“On the flipside though, there’s… athletic trainers out there that take the [Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist®] CSCS® just to have the credential behind their name but they have no idea what happens in a weight room.” 18:42“They can take the test and pass the test, but can they actually coach?” 19:01“Anyone can read a book, but can you apply it?” 19:35 “It’s more than just about lifting weights… it’s can they move, can they run… are they able to stop, start, change direction?” 20:55“Some of your worst kids in the weight room are your best athletes on the field.” 22:08“I think you have to practice what you preach.” 26:50“You have to be an example to your student-athletes.” 27:00“If you… haven’t touched a weight in your life, your kids are not going to respect you.” 28:10“Go out and meet as many people as you possibly can.” 32:01“Get involved, and coach, and be around as many sports as you possibly can.” 32:28“Male or female, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you focus on one sport.” 32:33

Maura Bergan, Associate Professor of Exercise Science and Sports Studies at Springfield College, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about social media in the exercise science field, key career decisions, and qualities and values that help you as a coach.Maura Bergan, PhD, CSCS, is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science and Sport Studies at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Bergan completed her Master’s degree in Strength and Conditioning and a PhD in Physical Education at Springfield College. During her graduate studies, she served as a Strength and Conditioning Graduate Assistant. Additionally, she has worked with athletes of all levels at AP Academy, a private facility in western Massachusetts. Her research interests include: positive youth development through sport, psychosocial aspects of sport, and coach education.Follow Maura on Twitter: @MauraB_SC | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “I developed a curriculum that integrated some life skill development through strength and conditioning.” 1:52“The biggest thing I was looking to do was create some connections and transfer to life outside the weight room.” 2:17“How can we educate our young coaches to be really good coaches in terms of being able to communicate and manage a group of student-athletes?” 3:08“Social media is like a gateway to exploring this field, connecting with others.” 4:11“If you want to develop [a social media platform] and have some depth in that one area, you really put your energy into one.” 6:33“As one of my big mentors, Adam Feit says, ‘Make the big time where you’re at.’” 7:35“I love learning, I loved who I was learning with, and the experiences I had and the opportunities I’m really grateful for.” 10:34“We have probably a 100% next step rate.” 12:55“Usually in the summer between your first and second year, that’s when the big internship happens… that’s where opportunities are endless.” 14:42“I was fortunate enough to have a high school strength and conditioning coach.” 16:45“I think maybe that’s why I have a special spot in my heart for high school and younger youth athletics.” 17:18“Make yourself known and make yourself available to those volunteer opportunities.” 18:36“You never know who knows who or you know what’s going to need to be filled.” 19:04“Introduce yourself, all you have to do is shake someone’s hand, send an email.” 19:18“Ask them about their journey, ask them about how they got started.” 20:14“The experiences I had and the values I took away from those was just being you, you as a coach, knowing and understanding who you are.” 22:27“It’s going to be obvious if you’re trying to be somebody that you’re not.” 22:51“Get comfortable, you know, with your voice, feel comfortable leading some courses, leading some classes.” 25:23“I get a lot of information actually from my students.” 29:02“I still love Coach McKeefery’s Iron Game Chalk Talk [podcast].” 31:07Books – The Switch Book, The Originals, Grit, and Conscious Coaching 32:57

Vernon Griffith, co-owner of Virginia High Performance and high school strength and conditioning coach, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about opening Virginia High Performance, transitioning from the military to strength and conditioning, and impacting youth athletics.Vernon Griffith, CSCS,*D is Co-Owner of Virginia High Performance, where he functions as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach. He has trained hundreds of athletes, ranging from 10-year-olds to collegiate athletes. Additionally, Griffith serves as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the nationally-ranked Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School football and basketball teams. Find Vernon on Twitter: @VernonGriffith4 | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “The whole goal was to get into youth athletics, to work with teams, to truly change kids’ lives.” 3:38“I thought the private facility would give me a better avenue to be able to still put my family first.” 5:50“All my other friends were going to college to play sports, or for education, and I was like ‘What am I going to do?’” 7:50“[The military] set me up for success, it set my family up for success.” 8:00“In four months, I lost I think it was like 30 something pounds—but I did it the wrong way.” 9:15“I felt terrible, I felt so old… and I was like ‘there’s got to be a better way to do this’ and so that’s when I started reading.” 9:50“It started to fascinate me, and I was like ‘this is kind of what I want to do.’” 10:03“The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it.” 11:31“Be the coach that you needed.” 14:13“We have these kids at such a pivotal point in their life, and we can teach them everything that we find valuable.” 14:40“We can make them stronger with a pencil in their hand… but we choose not to, we choose to just make them stronger with a bar in their hand.” 14:47“We’re missing a huge opportunity to truly change someone’s life.” 14:56“It’s not bench and squat and deadlift—it’s how we communicate.” 15:08“We don’t talk about how to communicate… and we expect young coaches to step in front of a group of 10 – 20 people and just do it.” 16:05“I’ve learned so much from the kids that I work with.” 17:30“In the private sector, I have to adapt.” 18:00“I just want to provide these kids with the best me.” 18:35“Athletes are not going to tell you what’s wrong right away.” 21:55“It’s asking questions to open up dialogue.” 22:35“If you are a good person, we can give you the tools to be a good coach.” 25:30“Honestly, I like to have individuals that don’t have much experience.” 26:00“I am a grey area coach, I don’t think things are black and white.” 26:14“I want coaches to have that mindset of being fresh, trying to be innovative.” 26:26“Most people think of training a military person or tactical athlete as just beat the heck out of them.” 29:29“The second you look at a tactical, military person… as an athlete, you just look at the picture different.” 29:48

Matthew Nein, Head Sports Performance Coach for Salisbury University, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about receiving the NSCA Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year award, personal and program values, and mental toughness. As the Coordinator of Sports Performance at Salisbury University, Matthew Nein, CSCS, RSCC*D, oversees the training programs of 21 varsity teams, three graduate assistants, and an intern and volunteer staff of about 15. During his tenure, Nein has had the opportunity to work with 12 National Championship teams, eight individual National Championship athletes, and over 300 All-Americans. He has been certified as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) since 2004 and recently garnered the distinction of a Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach® with Distinction (RSCC*D). He also serves on the NSCA Advisory Board for the State of Delaware. While not training athletes, he manages all indoor recreational facilities and serves as an Adjunct Instructor in the Applied Health Physiology Department at Salisbury University. Prior to coming to Salisbury University, Nein spent one season as a strength coach in the Minor League Baseball system of the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He received his Master’s degree in Applied Health Physiology from Salisbury University in 2004 and Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Towson University in 2002. Find Matt on Twitter: @CoachNein | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “When I began my career fourteen – fifteen years ago, you know it was one about inspiring and impacting people… I don’t think this was ever a goal necessarily but to just go out and… impact as many people as I could.” 1:32“That was the very first thing after finding out, was reaching back in to all my former staff members, you know, and really reaching out to them and saying thank you for all the work they did.” 2:53“We’re going to hire people that want to challenge me as well, as a coach, and we want to create that environment and that scenario so that they feel comfortable to be able to challenge and question and really dive in—and I think that makes all of us better as people.” 3:25“I have a big philosophy that the better your staff, the better training your athletes are going to get, and it just becomes this cyclical concept that we bring in better staff, we get better training, our athletes are going to further grow and develop.” 5:45“My budget is zero, I don’t have one, there’s no line item anything, which makes it challenging but—so you’ve got to figure it out and got to be creative in what you do.” 9:22“When someone says no, you come back and okay, what do I need to rework and figure out to go right back at it again.” 9:38“For me, passion’s probably the biggest thing.” 10:10“[Interns] starting as a freshman as a sophomore, we’ve got two and a half, potentially three years of work that we can really see them grow and become something in the field.” 10:38“I have personal values, and then we have our program values and I think my personal values are something I need to live by every day and really it’s that impact, influence, and inspire.” 17:56“Do you set your alarm in the morning and if you do, do you hit snooze and, if you do, are you willing to attack the day then at that point or are you saying ‘hey it’s okay I’m just going to go back to sleep and delay being successful and great today.’” 18:31“We have attitude, enthusiasm, energy, and effort as our four program values.” 19:29“Quote… that Brett Ledbetter had in his book [What Drives Winning] [talks about how] it’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize.” 20:19“Mental toughness is one of the things that is highly talked about, but not really well understood.” 22:25“Dr. McGuire, Dr. Pat Ivey, Dr. Amber Lattner—I think her name now is Selking—so she also has the Championship Mindset Podcast, which is great… Brian Kang does a fantastic job. They’ve got a couple others: Ken Ravizza works in the baseball setting a lot, but he’s been in other settings as well. To me, that’s that core group that does an absolute fantastic job [regarding mental toughness].” 26:47“US Lacrosse has been fantastic, I mean they’re really open to it and it’s great for us, great for them, great for the NSCA.” 36:45“We want to help people grow—that’s what it’s all about, you know, and if we want to do that, we’ve got to connect to people.” 37:35“If you can’t find something that’ll help you grow as a professional, you’re not really looking very hard at that point.” 41:34“There’s always something to gain and something to grow from no matter what presentation you sit in.” 41:40

Martin Rooney, Head Coach of Training for Warriors, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about defining a coach, balancing the coaching lifestyle, and myths and misconceptions about opening a gym.Martin Rooney, MHS, PT, CSCS, is an internationally recognized coach and author. Rooney has a Master of Health Science degree and a Bachelor of Physical Therapy degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Science from Furman University. A former United States Olympic bobsledder, he is the creator of the Training for Warriors (TFW) system. TFW is used in over 260 locations in 25 countries and his training programs have been used by over one million athletes and adults worldwide. Rooney has trained athletes from the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), as well as consulted several professional sport teams and military organizations.Find Martin on Twitter: @martinrooney1 | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes“There’s one part about coaching it, there’s another part about doing it too.” 1:20“It’s not just the Xs and Os, it’s not just knowing exercise or science.” 3:10“Everybody’s looking for a coach that can affect their life.” 3:15“When my Olympic dream ended… that’s when I realized, “Hey it’s time to go to work.” 4:48“Now, looking back twenty years, I wish I would have gone for it earlier, and really taken a shot.” 6:03“That’s when I really found my true calling and got the opportunity to [do] all the things that you said—from the NFL teams, to the NFL draft picks, to the military, to going and consulting at major universities.” 6:52“[I] took the risk—there were so many people who said this is crazy.” 8:30“[I] became the first strength and conditioning guy for MMA [mixed marital arts] because it really didn’t exist.” 8:47“Twenty years later… half of the people doing our system are women… which everybody said would never happen.” 9:17“But who’s that coach for that house mom or weekend warrior that’s now out of sports but who wants to be something again, and that was the void I went after to fill.” 9:42“It’s this incredible feeling every day to get emails from people around the world of how their lives have been affected by the coaches that I’m getting to coach in my network.” 10:01“We proved this stuff worked—what’s interesting is I didn’t see in the beginning that hey, you didn’t have to be a fighter to do it.” 11:00“Now I’ve found my sweet spot of the ability to probably make the biggest impact I could versus working with, say, a few hundred athletes.” 11:57“You just go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of actual exercise, thinking that’s going to be the thing that makes you more valuable.” 13:40“Never think that I’m going to discount a degree or what you know, but what I’ve found was… that’s only half of it.” 14:32“If you’re going to call yourself a coach, then you’ve got to be constantly growing to be a great person.” 17:45“I think coaching is the most important job in the world.” 18:30“Whether you’re a teammate, coach, [or] business coach; whatever it is, you are a coach to somebody else.” 19:58“I think the job of a coach is to energize somebody so they’re better than before they met you.” 23:22“Do they genuinely want to see people get better and that’s what excites them?” 25:09“One thing I would always recommend is, hey, you should get around people you consider great coaches.” 26:28“Where I got good at coaching was putting my feet on [that] turf and coaching 1,000 sessions.” 26:41“The way I got better was by making a lot of mistakes—but learning from them.” 26:58“[Work-life balance is] about being present… when you are there be there.” 30:19“The thing that breaks my heart is watching a lot of people leave our industry because they couldn’t make it.” 39:41“Should you own a business? Because not everybody should.” 40:19“If you are not fired up, you’re not getting anyone else fired up.” 42:22“Coaching is not writing a workout on a wall, they come in and do it, and you just stand there and watch them.” 43:26“Coaching is this non-stop of just being all over everybody and really showing an individual interest in getting somebody… a little bit better than before you met them.” 43:34

Kevin Cronin, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Colorado College, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about his career path, sources of quality information on social media, and the realities of working at a college that has both Division I and Division III sports.Kevin Cronin, MS, CSCS,*D, has been the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Colorado College since 2012, where he oversees the strength and conditioning programs for all 17 varsity sports and 330 student athletes. Previously, Cronin served as the Assistant Strength Coach, Performance Center Coordinator, and Education Coordinator for the NSCA along with stints at Western Washington University, Stanford University, and the University of Texas.Find Kevin on Twitter: @KJCroni ‏ | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “My time at the NSCA was great—I think it really set me up to kind of slide into that role [at Colorado College].” 1:55“You walk into a room and you don’t know the kids, you really don’t know their training background, you don’t have any help.” 4:16“It wasn’t super hard to get the programming going right away, it was hard to get the kids in the door.” 5:29“We had a track lift at 6:30 pm, and there were nights we’d get one or two kids, and now… the groups of two or three turned into groups of twenty and thirty.” 6:10“We have five [sport] coaches in our building that are CSCS.” 8:30“We’ve done a pretty good job of saying ‘hey you’re not the University of Texas Men’s Basketball—we don’t need to be doing what they’re doing, our kids are different.’” 10:06“Everybody says ‘you don’t want to take an internship where you’re just going to clean and fill fridges,’ but for me you’ve got to be able to clean and fill fridges.” 12:18“I had a CSCS, a USAW, and a Master’s degree—and I don’t think I got a call back for a single job.” 13:38“Bryan Mann said it on Facebook the other day… ‘Don’t worry about famous… worry about being effective.’” 15:30“Even now, if kids that come in and intern with us spend the first 15 minutes in the room just kind of standing there and not helping set up… or not asking us what we need, automatically get dinged.” 15:55“I think some of the conversations you and I have had, or anybody that was here when I was at the NSCA—that’s the kind of stuff you can’t forget about.” 19:00“One of the main things we see is… kids’ inability to generate pertinent conversation about training.” 20:50“There’s so much content out there that sometimes kids are like, ‘Oh I know what that is,’ but they don’t ask questions.” 22:00“Ryan Horn always has these great little knowledge bombs he throws out [on Twitter]… I think Tim Pelot posts some pretty cool stuff every now and again.” 28:44“We test a decent amount. We look at verticals, we look at 5-10-5s, we looks at 10-meters, we look at front squat, we look at reactive strength index.” 33:12“Winning…. injuries, and if you’re actually improving performance.” 33:58“When I took my job, there was a very large disconnect… you could feel the rift between the Division I sports and the Division III sports.” 35:43“The cool part about the Division III kids is they’re not on a scholarship, so they show up because they want to show up.” 37:48“I think they all now respect each other a little bit more because they all go through the same things.” 38:27“We’ve taken that pseudo quadrennial approach and are saying, ‘Hey by the time these kids are seniors, we’re going to be doing some really fun stuff.’” 39:38“The kids are what draws me to [collegiate strength and conditioning].” 40:10“The process of being a strength and conditioning coach can be hard.” 44:40“You apply to all these internships and you get denied, or you apply to all these jobs, you get denied—you know it’s a ding to the ego.” 44:45“You apply to fifty jobs, you don’t hear back from any of them, and you’re like, ‘Do I really do this?’” 44:52“If you don’t have a network that has a connection to a job, it might not even be worth applying for.” 45:00“There’s some sacrifices that people gotta make—and if you’re not willing to make them, it can be a hard business.” 45:40“Andrew Altoff said something like… ‘If you’re going to say hello to someone at a conference and not follow up with them, don’t even say hello to them.’” 46:17“I don’t think we should really put anything down unless people are hurting kids.” 52:00

Steve Hess, Chief Performance Officer at Panorama Orthopedics and Spine Center, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about creating buy-in with sport coaches and athletes, becoming one of the first National Basketball Association (NBA) strength and conditioning coaches, and staying current in an ever-changing field.Steve Hess, MS, MATm, RTSm, CSCS, RSCC, is a 20-year professional basketball strength and conditioning coach based in Denver, CO. He is a co-owner and Chief Performance Officer at Panorama Orthopedics and Spine Center. Hess is a former co-owner of FORZA Fitness and Performance Center and is one of 12 trainers worldwide who sits on the Under Armour Performance Training Council. He is also the official spokesperson for the National Sports Center for the Disabled and is a member of National Basketball Association (NBA) Team Fit. In addition, Hess has been featured on NBA Inside Stuff, All-Access with Ahmad Rashad, NBATV, The Eating Network, Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, Celebrity Sweat, and the Altitude Sports and Entertainment Network.  Find Steve on Twitter: @steve13hess | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “If you don’t have coaches’ buy-in, it’s hard to run a program—especially in professional sports.” 2:18“I hate to use terms like ‘greatness’ because those are unattainable goals.” 2:37“To be authentic, you have to have a knowledge base behind what you’re saying.” 3:52“Once you have more tools, you become more accountable for the things you do.” 4:30“If you‘re a true leader in your field, the buck stops with you.” 4:42“I got the job after calling Allen Bristow every day for 3 months, so I know when they looked at the phone they were like, ‘It’s this dude again, my gosh just hire him!’” 6:05“I gave stuff up, I worked 90 – 100 hours per week—not embellishing, these are facts.” 6:19“In order to achieve goals, you have to understand things are going to be hard.” 6:35“Unbelievable opportunity but took a big pay cut, but these are sacrifices, did they work out? I really think they did.” 7:00“I never ever have any regrets on anything because I’m always moving forward.” 7:15“If this is a field you choose, please understand it’s not going to look the way you think it’s going to look, but if you have a specific goal, get to that goal.” 7:25“Do what no one else is doing, stay pertinent, keep studying, and understand you’re never going to get to the top of the hill because there is no top of the hill.” 7:49“I’ve got a lot of learning to do. I’m going to peak at 70 years old, so I’ve got 20 years to peak.” 9:15“Can I go to a desert island and train an athlete with nothing? Yes, I can. Can everyone? No, they can’t…” 11:12“I don’t believe in balance and I’m not balanced, I’ve got an unbelievable family.” 12:13“It’s not what you have, it’s what excites you.” 13:08“You have one responsibility—make yourself happy. If you’re not happy, you can’t help anyone else.” 13:18“If you’re authentic in your beliefs, do as much as you can. Everything I’ve done is because I’m excited and I want to touch as many lives as I possibly can.” 15:28“I’ve absolutely unequivocally never been motivated by money.” 15:40“Everything I’ve done in my life has set me up for this point.” 16:45“Half the time I’m in a room with people so much smarter than me and I’m like, ‘This is the coolest thing!’” 17:01“But here’s the thing—no one is better than me because while I may be replaceable, I’m not repeatable.” 17:08“If you’re authentic in your approach you don’t have to pretend to be something you’re not—so you can wake up every day and be who you are.” 19:37“Everyone I hire has things that I don’t have and are way better than me in certain aspects, and I look to that so that I can grow. I don’t want to hire clones of myself.” 21:23“My selfish goal is that I want to hire you to make our program better because this program is not about me and it’s not about you, it’s about the athlete.” 21:56“Be authentic to who you are, especially with social media… just get it out there and be authentic in your approach.” 23:30“If you have truly chosen this field, it’s going to take you 15 years to become relevant.” 23:56“Instagram’s not real, Facebook’s not real, Twitter’s not real; I love posting positive stuff on there but that’s not who I am.” 25:11“If you have 24 million followers and that authenticates who you are, you may want to re-look at who you are.” 25:35“The realness comes out of a selfless action to get people better and the thing is don’t be scared to fail.” 25:45“How you affect people and how you adjust their lives and make them feel without you is really, really important.” 26:55“A lot of times you’re half dead too and you don’t want to be there but it’s not about you, so you got to find a way to platform it so they buy in.” 28:00“Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously and think ours is the only way—if you don’t interject other ways you’re going to have problems.” 28:41“You have to make a plan and you have to make it about them [the athletes].” 29:05“I learned I’ve got to integrate other people’s opinions because there are a lot of people way smarter than me and I know enough to know I know enough.” 31:15“I don’t just integrate other opinions. I listen and I assimilate it, and I make it my own.” 31:33“Be in the moment—some of the stuff you’re going to do you’re going to hate because it’s going to be challenging, but be in the moment.” 33:02“I drove to Florida with $20 and no phone.” 35:25“I’m learning new stuff every day.” 36:44“If you’re going to work as a strength and conditioning coach in professional sports, you’re going to have to have the CSCS.” 37:00“I’m not saying you have to agree with everything, but you have to learn from everything.” 37:19“People don’t see this it’s not all glamorous—we’re in Minnesota and its 23 below freezing and we just lost a game and guess whose tagging bags? We are tagging bags.” 37:50“If you have a perspective and it’s who you are and it’s what you’re made up of, then you can handle anything.” 38:28“In the professional realm, it’s wins, losses, and how you’re able to keep people on the field.” 39:58“If you don’t have a thick skin and you don’t have an ability to think through some of the tougher situations, you absolutely cannot last.” 40:10“It’s the same as life, the same people who are going to be successful in life are going to be successful in professional sports.” 40:40“If you’re not adaptive, you’re not creative, and you don’t continually evolve, you absolutely unequivocally have no shot of lasting as a professional strength coach at any professional level.” 41:18“It’s the same excitement year 1 as it is year 21 with those guys [Bill Foran and Dwight Daub].” 42:55“The one common thing we have is that we live for this field.” 43:25“The reason I write is that I hate writing… but what it does is it makes me sit down and think through the process.” 44:13“I think the NSCA does a really good job of creating a broad spectrum of views that you can incorporate.” 44:45“I think we have an obligation to give back to our younger professionals.” 45:59“Get out of your comfort realm, do stuff that scares you, that’s the stuff that makes you learn.” 48:15“A lot of times we’ve become so enamored with the fact that we’re so smart that our programming is pre-existing in our heads and we program before we even see our athletes.” 50:30

Brett Bartholomew, founder of the performance coaching and consulting company, The Bridge Human Performance, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about learning what drives people, how to interact effectively with others, adapting to change, and the value in learning from other fields.Brett Bartholomew, CSCS, RSCC, is a strength and conditioning coach, author, consultant, and Founder of the performance coaching and consulting company, The Bridge Human Performance®. His experience includes working with athletes both in the team environment and private sector along with members of the United States Special Forces and members of Fortune 500 companies. Taken together, Brett has coached a diverse range of athletes from across 23 sports world-wide, at levels ranging from youth athletes to Olympians. He’s supported numerous Super Bowl and World Series Champions, along with several professional fighters in both professional boxing as well as the UFC. Follow Brett on Instagram: @coach_brettb | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “People think the private sector is more personal training; some people think team coaches get comfortable in their roles and it’s kind of glorified, and I think there’s a lot more commonalities between the two than most realize.” 1:17“You see that a lot—people battling over who’s got the best training and who’s got the best this. I’m not trying to sit here… and say ‘My training is the best training.’” 5:21“I think it comes down to three aspects: the physiological, the psychological, and the cultural element… you need to know what drives people… these guys don’t care about getting under 85% and what that does to the nervous system the same way that we do… you need to get them to adhere to it.” 6:25Book: Conscious Coaching: The Art and Science of Building Buy-In 8:10“People are the ultimate performance variable, and if you don’t know what makes them tick, you’re gonna be a pretty poor coach.” 9:58“Somebody can be smart but not intelligent.” 11:16“I think sometimes we push principles and practices too much and not enough of just the intangibles of coaching.” 13:45“There’s this notion that unless you’ve coached ‘x’ amount of years, that you’re not skilled… you have to be able to find talent everywhere.” 14:09“Do the simple things savagely well.” 16:27“… Seek outside influences—if you’re only learning from strength and conditioning, you’re not broadening yourself to the best of your ability.” 17:21“You’re constantly trying to cater to a demand while staying true to a craft.” 17:37“We have to be the multidisciplinary learners we say that we are… learn from everybody. Don’t just learn from other strength coaches.” 18:24“The number one thing I look for… you have to have some level of consciousness of what you’re looking for and how to talk to people.” 19:12“I just look for the basics: do you have a good handshake, can you look me in the eye, can you send a thoughtful email?” 19:43Book: Robert Sapolsky’s Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst 27:37“People have agendas… you just gotta understand how to balance that.” 28:06“Our job is very important, but we’re not heart surgeons.” 29:18“You have to adapt yourself to the world or you can’t complain when the world happens to you.” 30:45

Gary Boros, Assistant Sport Performance Coach at the University of Denver, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about being flexible in your programming and with your staff, not always grinding your athletes into the ground, and the need to learn from others.Gary Boros, CSCS, is the Assistant Sport Performance Coach at the University of Denver, where he constructs performance programs for men’s basketball and women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and women’s lacrosse. Prior to coming to the University of Denver, Boros served as the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Bemidji State University for the past three years. While at Bemidji State University, Boros oversaw the strength and conditioning programming for men’s and women’s hockey, football, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s soccer, among other teams.Follow Gary on Twitter: @GaryBoros or contact him by email: Gary.boros@du.edu | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes"Eliminate the ‘old school’ mentality of we need to grind our athletes into the ground.” 2:09“Not everything is set in stone; if you see something that doesn’t work, be able to change it.” 8:05“Be flexible. Just because you write something down doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.” 8:46“If you’re not educating yourself, you’re really doing your student-athletes a disservice.” 10:16“Don’t be afraid to ask questions.” 10:23Book/article recommendations:Laying a solid foundation—The Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. 12:00The Science and Practice of Strength and Conditioning 12:14Supertraining 12:38“You don’t want to grind those kids into the ground all the time.” 17:00“There needs to be some sort of platform certification all the way across the board.” 18:14“Always take a step back to evaluate yourself… nobody knows everything.” 21:50“Go the extra mile… you’re going to have to work for free for a while.” 25:25“The common misconception is ‘Oh, you just have your kids lift weights.’” 28:14

Joel Raether, owner of Authentic Performance in Denver, CO, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about how to get started and then progress as a strength and conditioning professional. Early on, it takes plenty of long hard hours to get to a high level in this profession, but as you find your way, you must find a balance between work and life. Developing relationships is the biggest part of moving forward and being successful with high level athletes.Joel Raether, MAEd, CSCS,*D, RSCC*D, serves as the Director of Sport Performance at Authentic Performance Center in Denver, CO. He is also the Director of Sports Performance for the Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse team of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) since 2007. He served as the Education Programs Coordinator for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) from 2009 – 2011. Raether is also the co-founder of Performance Sandbag Training Systems (PST). His coaching career includes stints as the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Denver from 2002 – 2009 and the University of Nebraska at Kearney from 2000 – 2002.Find Joel on Twitter: @Compete4Life ‏ | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes Three things for a new gym/facility: “open space… I’m a big fan of med ball work… and then variation of a lot of bands… not necessarily the top three, but those are the first three that come to mind.” 1:54Bruce Lee - “Resist that which is not, and use that which is useful.” 4:56“Staying in your lane a little bit I think is important.” 7:00“You have to start with understanding that you need to get in a position where there are good mentors around you.” 8:02“You’re gonna make mistakes… and learning from mistakes is the biggest thing.” 11:50“If you are going to go that route [writing/getting published], you have to be accepting of the fact that people are going to scrutinize.” 16:22“It requires getting better at the craft of writing itself.” 17:17“I think that it’s important to share with folks.” 19:40“Working on balance is a big part… I have to become better at delegating.” 24:31“Being able to retire as strength and conditioning coaches.” 28:38“It goes back to the path… starting at a place where you’re going to get good experience… you have to put in the time; I think there’s no substitute for that.” 32:12“You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think the practical experience is where the art of coaching begins.” 32:42“Unfortunately, at a young age… you’ve gotta be willing to be mobile.” 32:56“A continual growth mindset has to be your mission.” 33:55“It takes a lot of years, a lot of time, a lot of investment to become an overnight success.” 34:28“Some people assume it’s the best job in the world… you have to understand, it’s very demanding.” 34:53“Develop relationships… to me that’s the biggest challenge at that [pro] level.” 35:52“Some of those guys [professional athletes] are the best compensators in the world.” 36:36“It can be very rewarding to work with those guys, but it’s not always as glamorous as everyone sees it to be.” 36:50