Big House Power Competitive Athletic Training

Big House Power Competitive Athletic Training Newsletter August 29, 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 18:29:00 +0000

Greetings,

The Big House Power staff hopes that everyone had a tremendous summer. We were certainly busy on many fronts, and want to make sure everyone is aware of the updated content that has been added in the past several weeks.

Article Update

The Issue of Sport Specialization by Coach Eric Cash of Dorman High School. Coach Cash brings a solid perspective to those coaches who have to deal with the outside influences of athletes who participate in one specific sport year round. This article is available to our Full Access, Professional, and Parent Portal members (subscription needed)

Differences in the Training of Competitive Olympic Lifters and Athletes in Sport by Coach Brett Nenaber of the Naberhood Barbell Club. Brett is a former collegiate football player at Arizona State as well as an accomplished Olympic Weightlifter and coach. Brett assists Coach Kenn with the Panthers. The big take away from this article should be the major differences in programming as Coach Kenn had said before, "you cannot train a sport with a sport". Although there is great carryover from the movements of Olympic Lifting there are still other demands on athletes who participate in sports that cannot be overlooked. This article is available to all registered users (no fee)

Programming

We had a coach contact us about programming for wrestling and we made two contacts and received great content in return. With that said, we uploaded over 40 pages of training templates from Performance Coach Josh Storms of Arizona State University. We will be adding more wrestling content in the future from Coach Ben Hilgart of the University of New Mexico. These programs will be available to Professional Portal Members (subscription needed) and can be found on our Programs Library Tab.

Clinics

Coach Kenn is well aware of the NSCA presentation that is circulating around social media on the topic of Micro's, Meso's, and Macro's. He has helped spread the link. While searching through his files he came across some footage of the same presentation given during a past Hammer Strength Seminar. Coach Kenn is breaking down the presentation into a series of small mini clinics and is uploading them to the Video Clips Tab under Clinic. These mini clinic are available to all registered users (no fee)

Elite Athletic Development Seminar DVD's

Coach Kenn and Coach Robertson's highly successful seminar was released on DVD this summer. It contains 12 DVD's of approximately 16 hours of presentations and well as a seminar manual. If you are interested in the product you can get more information at http://www.eadseminar.com Coach Kenn and Coach Robertson will be announcing the dates for #EADS15 at the end of the year and they are considering increasing the cap on the number of attendees

Summer Speaking Engagements

Although it is hard to please everyone, Coach Kenn had a successful summer with a tremendous amount of positive feedback from his presentations at the NSCA National Convention in Las Vegas as well as the UKSCA Annual Meeting in the UK. Coach Kenn was especially pleased with the feedback from his hands on presentation on Squat Progressions at the NSCA since he focused on movement and resets and not the Squat itself.

Speaking oversees was a professional bucket list item for Coach and he returned saying it was one of the best conferences he has attended. His main take away was how the synergy between science and practice is much better oversees. This has lead him to reach out more to his go to strength scientist, Dr. Matt Rhea. He will be leaning on him for more collaboration in the present and immediate future.

We at BHP wish all coaches and athletes who are competing this Fall the very best in all endeavors on and off the field.

WORDS WIN

BHP STAFF

May/June 2014 Big House Power Member Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Thu, 29 May 2014 22:00:00 +0000

Members,

We hope you had an enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend. We here at Big House Power are extremely grateful to the men and women who serve to protect our country and way of life. Without them, we would not be able to live our dream of coaching athletes.

We have added two new articles, one is a review of Coach Kenn's and Mike Robertson's inaugural Elite Athlete Development Seminar held in Indianapolis March 28th and 29th of this year. To say it was a success is an understatement. It was a tremendous two day event. Coach and Mike will be announcing the dates of next year's seminar shortly. It will be held in Indianapolis. It will again be limited to 50 clinicians.

EADS2014

We have added the next edition to Coach Eric Cash's Block Zero Work. This is available to Full Access, Professional, and Parent Portal members. You can find it under the Portal Member Library. Great Stuff!

Progressions of Block Zero

Coach Kenn, Coach Cash, and Coach Roberts as well as title sponsor PLAE USA are discussing the creation of the BLOCK ZERO ACADEMY which will be one day full participation clinics on the role and implemetation of the Block Zero concept. Stay Tuned.

Coach Kenn and his training partner Brett Nenaber have been on the Highland Games Circuit since April and will compete again this June 14 in Clover,SC. Both Coach and Brett had podium finishes at the Greenville Highland Games, Greenville, SC over the Memorial Day weekend. Coach placed 2nd overall in the Master's 40-49 age division with 3 event wins, 1 - 2nd place, and 2 - 3rd place finishes. Brett won the Amatuer A division with 2 event wins and 4 - 3rd place finishes. Brett is moving up the rankings fast. Last year in his 1st ever event he place 1st in the Amatuer B at Greenville.

Coach Kenn will be speaking at Sorinex's Summer Strong 7 June 20 - 22. He will be doing a live hands on Tier System training session.

Summer Strong 7

Coach Kenn will also be speaking at the NSCA National Convention in Las Vegas July 9-12th. He is holding a Pre Conference Symposium on the Tier System on Wednesday the 9th and doing a From the Field on Squat Progression on Saturday the 12th. Coach Kenn has also been asked to be the lead speake at the RSCC*E reception Saturday.

NSCA NATIONAL

Coach Kenn will wrap up his speaking engagements for the year the following week at the UKSCA at Chesford Grange, Warwickshire UK July 19-20th. His presentation topic is The Development of an NFL Off Season Strength Program.

UKSCA NATIONAL

As always thank you for your continued support of Big House Power.

WORD'S WIN

BHP STAFF

March 2014 Big House Power Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 21:21:00 +0000

To our Big House Power Members,

As we are 17 days away from the beginning of the spring equinox, we at BHP are hoping the weather begins to change for the better. As we head into spring we wish all those coaching spring sports the very best in your competitions. We were extremely excited to have received a nice note and training shirt from Coach Matt Martin of Merritt Island High School last week. Coach Martin has been using the Tier System for the football team the last 6 years. They have won 55 games during this time period, 5 District titles and their 2014 senior class was the 3rd class to begin with a Block Zero program.

We thank Coach Martin for his kind gesture. We would love to hear from all of our coaches who have had similar success stories. We are extremely fortunate at BHP that our system of training is highly adaptable for any level and any sport.

As of today, we have uploaded 2 new pieces of material. First, for our registered, full access, professional, and parent portal members, Coach Cash has been kind enough to share his Middle School Block Zero Proposal. This was approved and is now being implemented in his school district. Word's Win to him, his staff, parents, and the administrators who made this happen. Coach Kenn will be interviewing Coach Cash for our members March 15.

Our full access, professional, and parent portal members will have access to a 12 minute video of Coach Kenn taking his GPP for High School group through a jump progression program he was developing while in the private sector. He is encouraging our membership to start a dialogue on the forum for more descriptive discussion. His goal is to do this with all of the videos he posts for our members. Coach's goal is to have a truly interactive forum.

In the future, Coach Kenn is exploring on line consulting through Skype in which you can submit questions beforehand and hold a unique discussion with Coach. He is working out the details on pricing as well as making sure the coach will be able to view charts and diagrams on screen.

Coach Kenn's schedule is filling up with a number of events in 2014.
Where will Coach Kenn be....

March 15 - Hammer Strength Clinic - Dorman High School, Spartanburg NC - speaker

March 28-29 Elite Athlete Development Seminar brought to you by PLAE USA Sports Performance Flooring - Indianapolis - Hosting with Mike Robertson

(ONLY 11 SPOTS REMAIN AS OF 3-1-14)

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/elite-athletic-development-seminar/?inf_contact_key=5015fb0180e4cc30adc5974251d35a1e5c77481c9d5bcb0893d58c36b231b5c3

April 5 - Tartan South Highland Games - Competing as of today

May 24 - Greenville Gallabrae Highland Games - Competing as of today

June 14 - Back Yard Bash Powerlifting - Coach is considering this

June 21 - Sorinex Summer Strong Expo VII Columbia, SC - Speaking - Going to do a hands on Tier System Training Session

July 10-12 - NSCA Las Vegas - pre conference symposium 2x2 hour blocks on the Tier System (Foundations/Assimilation) as well as 2 hands on session on Squat Technique

July 19-20 UKSCA - Warwickshire

As always we appreciate and thank you for your support.

WORD'S WIN

BHP STAFF
Big House Power

Original Strength and the Block Zero Concept

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 18:07:00 +0000

Original Strength and the Block Zero Concept

In my attempt to continue to improve my knowledge on movement and movement mechanics, I purchased and recently completed the book Original Strength, Regaining the Body You Were Meant to Have by Tim Anderson and Geoff Neupert. When I completed the book, I immediately put it into practice and have not been disappointed.

First off, I am not sure if you are like me, but I get books recommended to me on a daily basis and sometimes I am not going to lie, some books are intimidating! Seriously, for those of you who picked up Mel Siff’s Supertraining and flipped through that the first time. You weren’t scared of that one! (HAHA). This book was quite the opposite. It was an easy read, well represented as it walks you through the process of “pressing reset”.

What I personally was interested in was how they created a movement plan based on the similar patterns that we utilize naturally when developing our skills from infant to adulthood. What I have found as they continue to mention is the “use it or lose it syndrome”. The basic movements of rolling, rocking, crawling, marching, walking, skipping, and running all have the ability to correct our ability to move more efficiently. If we are not doing these movements consistently we will lose the ability to perform them.

The authors have created simple plans that can be easily implemented into anyone’s daily schedule or routine. I have already implemented their Daily Reset and Post Reset programs to my own. The Resets are based on their “Big 5”, neck nods, rolling, rocking, and crawling and cross crawling. What I have found real quick is where I am limited in certain movements.

The Daily Reset consists of segmental rolling, neck nods (with diaphragm breathing), rocking, baby crawls, and cross crawling. The segmental rolling is done back to belly and belly to back. You perform these movements by utilizing your upper body only or lower body only. I can tell you upper body only belly to back has exposed my T-spine mobility (thank goodness I cheat a little with my legs or I would not roll over). I pride myself on performing neck work in my strength training sessions, but after doing neck nods for 8 consecutive days, my neck is sore. Yes, just moving my “dome” in a flexion and extension linear plane with no external load has left me sore! I have added 5 more reps than is prescribed for rocking as I do 3 different leg positions. For baby crawls I have also added in backward crawling. I perform my cross crawls lying (T-spine mobility issues here also).

The Post Reset which I perform after my training sessions for the day consists of marching, rocking, crawling, and 3 minutes of belly breathing. I perform the marching forward and back, rocking for an additional 5 reps, baby crawling forward and back, and perform my belly breathing with my feet elevated.

I have also added in leopard crawling and Spiderman crawling into my readiness programs combined with rotational and stabilization root work. These movements have become great conditioners as well as movements that are creating great stability, strength, and soreness to my shoulder and trapezius regions. The crawling is also helping my hip and groin mobility.

Original Strength (OS) and the Block Zero Concept

If you have followed our work you are aware of the Block Zero program that we developed while at Arizona State and continued at Louisville. With the help of Mark Uyeyama, Ben Hilgart, Bryan Dermody, and Adam Feit, The Block Zero program grew in purpose and progressions for our incoming athletes. The one point that was missing which I began to bring into play while in the private sector was forms of tumbling. The OS reset programs are an ideal starting point for this as well as being the number one starting point for every Block Zero training session.

Having trained athletes at every level I can assure you that every athlete can benefit from OS and Block Zero foundation principles. My colleague and contributor to Big House Power Competitive Athletic Training Inc., Coach Eric Cash has implemented a full Block Zero program in the middle schools of his school district. I will be contacting him to begin researching and implementing the OS protocols into his curriculum ASAP!

I am as we speak working on plans to bring in some of the OS movements to our programming on the professional level, especially in our readiness programs.

Additional Note

The OS movements and “reset” programs are especially easy to implement into the 7R’s of Program Design by Mike Robertson. I have already incorporated OS movements into my reset, readiness, recovery, and the 8^th R root (added by yours truly) programs.

So, what am I saying, if you are evolving to a “movement before muscle” training philosophy, believe in a form of Block Zero training, and want to actually feel better personally, I highly recommend this book as a tremendous reference to your library. I have already ordered Becoming Bulletproof by Tim Anderson and Mike McNiff to further my knowledge on this subject. I just received an email that it has been delivered to my home base in Clemmons. I will get started this weekend.

WORD'S WIN

Coach House

BIG HOUSE POWER

January Newsletter from Big House Power

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 17:30:00 +0000

Greetings and Happy New Year,

We attempted to send this newsletter out yesterday and I don’t think it went through, so I will try again today. If you received one from us yesterday, we apologize for a similar one.

This is an exciting weekend for Coach Kenn and the Big House Staff for several reasons;

1 – Coach Kenn officially received his award Friday afternoon at the NSCA’s Coaches Conference Awards Luncheon. Although Coach could not attend, Legendary Coach Boyd Epley helped out and allowed Coach to send in a video address. From some of the clips on Facebook, it looks like Coach Epley and Coach Kenn had a little planned humor attached.

2 – The reason Coach could not attend leads us to why? Because Coach will be involved in his first ever NFL Playoff game Sunday at 1:05. We are extremely excited about this opportunity and we know it will be a fierce battle to move on to the next round.

3 – Lastly, Coach Kenn has teamed up with one of his “GO TO” guys Mike Robertson to Co-Host his first seminar “Elite Athletic Development Seminar” to be held in Indianapolis on March 28-29 2014. Space is limited to the first 50 registrants. If you are interested in learning some serious performance programming, you are not going to want to miss this.

On the website front, we just uploaded a new article for Full Access, Professional and Parent Portal members by Coach Rashad Roberts on athletes “who train everywhere”. This article is very simply written, but has effective practical bullet points that may help you with your multi-sport athlete, who trains on and off campus, and plays club also.

http://www.bighousepower.com/PortalMemberLibrary/HowtoTraintheAthleteWhoTrainsEverywhere/tabid/132/Default.aspx

On a side note. I would like to congratulate the NSCA for putting on one of the better Coaches Conferences that I have seen in a while. The speaker list was extremely impressive and the feedback I have received and the information posted on social media outlets seem to back that up. In the Mid 90’s the NSCA added this conference specifically to coincide with the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) so that strength coaches could interact with the football counterparts. Very few coaches took this opportunity to learn and network with the people who really hire you as strength coaches, the FOOTBALL COACHES! We know it is too late this year, but if you are an aspiring strength coach who wants to work football, Coach Kenn truly encourages you to plan to stay a couple of more days and interact at the AFCA. Coach truly believes it helped him in the network game keeping up with all the coaches he worked with and the name with a face game. He also interviewed for several jobs in his past at the AFCA. He believes if he wasn’t already attending he may not have been extended an interview. Food for thought.

As always we truly appreciate your support of Big House Power.

Word’s Win

BHP Staff

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/elite-athletic-development-seminar/

December Newsletter from Big House Power

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 10:02:00 +0000

Members,

Happy Holidays! We hope as the year comes to a close that 2013 has brought you success in all aspects of your lives. For Big House Power we have had a blessed year and your support is a big part of that.

December brings two new articles to our site. Coach Eric Cash did a tremendous job of going over the base mechanics of Jumping and Landing. These two abilities go hand in hand and are often times under developed with our youth athletes. Jumping and Landing mechanics need to be a huge factor in Block Zero type of work. This article is available for; Full Access, Professional, and Parent Portal Members under our Portal Member Library Tab.

http://www.bighousepower.com/PortalMemberLibrary/CashEricJumpingandLanding12613/tabid/130/Default.aspx

The second is one of three article submitted to Big House Power from Elite Performance Coach, Ethan Banning of Rehab Plus in Scottsdale, AZ. The title is “5 Fingers of the Fist” and will give you some insight into his methodology of training. This will also be a great lead in to his in depth article on his Introductory Training Model. This article is available for; Registered Members, Full Access, Professional, and Parent Portal Members under our Article Tab.

http://www.bighousepower.com/Articles/BanningE5FingersoftheFist12613/tabid/131/Default.aspx

We also received some terrific news on several fronts this month:

1 – Coach Eric Cash of Dorman HS in Spartanburg, SC received approval from the District Superintendent for a Block Zero Strength Coordinator at the middle school in his area. That’s right a legitimate Block Zero program. Coach Cash will be hiring this position and teaching this individual the Block Zero philosophy. Coach Cash is following a very similar model that Coach Kenn has only spoken about in theory. We are extremely excited to help in any way we can for this to achieve. If anyone is interested, we have asked Coach Cash and he has agreed to speak with coaches who are interested in how he created his proposal. You can reach Coach on our member forum.

2 – We are excited to announce that Coach Kenn was awarded the first National Strength and Conditioning Association’s (NSCA) Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award. By earning this honor Coach Kenn is also the first to win both the Professional and College Coach of the Year Award. These awards can only be earned one time in a coach’s career based on stipulations of the NSCA. Coach wants everyone to know he is thankful for this achievement and for all of the staff members and athletes who made this possible. “Every coach and athlete that has been involved in my journey has a part of any award I am blessed to receive. Thank You All! Word’s Win.”

3 – Coach Kenn is also in discussions with the International Youth and Conditioning Association (IYCA) to be a member of their Board of Experts. Coach Kenn is a Certified Youth Specialist through this association and holds them in high regards. We will keep you updated.

4 – Coach Kenn is once again a contributor to Men’s Fitness.

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/pro-tips/10-ways-to-train-like-a-legend

5 – And finally, the release of our latest product, The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook for Football eBook. This goes on sale today!

http://www.bighousepower.com/Store/TheCoachsStrengthTrainingPlaybookFootball/tabid/129/Default.aspx

Coach Kenn 2014 Clinic Schedule as of 12-6-13

March 28-29 with Mike Robertson

Elite Athlete Development Seminar

Indianapolis, IN

More info to come – 50 clinician limit

July 9-12 National Strength and Conditioning Association – National Conference

July 9^th Pre Conference Symposium

12:00 – 2:00 Tier System Programming - Lecture

2:00 – 4:00 Practical Application of a Tier System Training Session – Practical – we will take clinicians through a training session

July 12^th Hands On Teaching Progression of the Squat

10:00 – 10:50

11:00 – 11:50

We are waiting on date for Hammer Strength Clinic Spartanburg SC. Coach has confirmed to speak but there has been a date change.

Word's Win
BHP Staff

The Coach's Strength Training Playbook for Football Launch Date is .....................

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 21:20:00 +0000

The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook for Football

In today’s saturated sports performance market, there are eBooks that surface left and right on various topics with an underlying motivation to make a profit. Most of these manuals turn out to be promotional platforms written by individuals who have never actually coached athletes in a team setting. Real coaches want to cut through the creative formatting and flashy marketing without reading through another theoretical guide based not on anecdotal evidence but on personal beliefs. This is not that kind of eBook.

Make no mistake, Joe Kenn’s “The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook for Football: A Championship Program” is anything but watered-down and solely theoretical. Coach Kenn opens the doors to an entire off-season of training in a detailed format. This data was collected during the off-season training of a highly successful team in a BCS conference with a number of NFL drafted players. No component of preparation was left undocumented including sets, reps, percentages, target times, and performance testing data.

There is a reason Joe “House” Kenn is arguably the most decorated and influential strength & conditioning coach in the industry. His attention to detail, straightforward guidance, and unwavering integrity is evident in every one of the 280 plus pages. Coaches that truly want to help their athletes succeed on the football field and in the weight room will appreciate the effort and honesty of Coach Kenn’s writing. This is the type of information that strength coaches covet and will flourish with. A must read for any coach beyond the over-simplification of athletic performance. “The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook for Football: A Championship Program” is written from the sack. Words Win.

Mark Watts

Director of Education

Elitefts.com™

"Joe Kenn continues to impress with The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook for Football. The best way to learn for me is to look at tried and true programming and dissect it. To get the rare opportunity to look behind the scenes at one of most respected strength coaches programs is one I couldn’t pass up. Coach Kenn provides the exact programming templates he used during his 9 week Championship summer program, including the heralded “Block Zero” program. It can be used as a plug and play for coaches who have responsibilities beyond just strength, or a point of reference for experienced strength coaches to evaluate their own programs. In a day of sensationalized Internet products, it’s nice to get back to proven nuts and bolts programming.”

Ron McKeefery, MA, CSCS, MSCC

Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach

www.RonMcKeefery.com

“I was lucky enough to stumble on Joe Kenn’s Tier System Training early on in my career as physical preparation coach and it has shaped the way I approach strength training for non-strength sports. Tier System book is the ONLY book I carry around with me, and it is the ONLY book that I have read more than 5 times. It is a master-piece, but it lacked real-life examples how the system is implemented. With Coach’s Strength Training Playbook for Football that is no longer the case - they represent great combo of theory and practice. The readers can also pick-up other knowledge that is not directly related to strength training, like the design of workout cards, coach’s reference cards and so forth. Joe Kenn is really leader in strength and conditioning field and I am always eager to get my hands on his material. This book is no exception. "

Mladen Jovanovic

Physical Preparation Coach

www.complementarytraining.blogspot.com

"There are few people I respect more in the physical preparation game than Coach Kenn, and this manual does not disappoint. It’s rare that a coach will literally take you behind closed doors and show you a real, live program. While many are quick to talk philosophy or “what they’ve read,” Coach Kenn is an in the trenches guy, and this manual puts you in his head to see how he programs speed, strength and conditioning for his athletes. Quite simply if you want to take your program design skills to the next level, you need to review this manual."

Mike Robertson, MS, CSCS, USAW
President, Robertson Training Systems
Co-Owner, Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training

"Coach Kenn is the best in the business. I have seen firsthand the amount of preparation he puts into his programming to maximize his athlete's development. The Coach's Strength Training Playbook for Football gives the reader a behind the scenes look at the preparation and development of a Championship Football Program. Unlike many books and manuals that outline general programs, this is the actual program used by a championship football team. The amount of detail in the templates and charts in this training manual make it one of a kind."

Ben Hilgart, MS, CSCS, SCCC, USAW I

Head Coach- Strength & Conditioning

University of New Mexico

"The Coach's Strength Training Playbook for Football is the first manual of its kind I've seen. Coach Kenn provides you an entire 9-wk program that covers all areas of training in this manual. As a coach, being efficient with your programming and having great templates to use is key to writing S&C programs, and this manual provides coaches with excellent templates, as well as drills and exercises (movement prep, conditioning, speed, agility, etc) that are ready for immediate use. If you want a program that has shown proven results with athletes then I highly recommend picking up this manual. "

Scott Caulfied

Director of Strength and Conditioning

National Strength and Conditioning Association

“Joe Kenn’s new ebook gives you an inside look at how a master develops a program. Coach Kenn gives you the opportunity to see every small detail that goes into a successful strength and conditioning program. I have never before seen this type of insider information available. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or intern in the field, you should be reading and learning from this ebook. Learn from the Master!”

Joe Connolly, MS, SCCC, CSCS, USAW

Director of Strength and Conditioning

University of South Carolina

"As a longtime fan of Coach Kenn and his Tier System I was excited to get my hands on The Coaches Strength Training Playbook for Football. This manual provides invaluable insight into the mind and programming of Coach Kenn and shows you exactly how he plans, organizes, and develops not only his strength training sessions but his running/agility, and conditioning sessions as well. This is a MUST have for any serious Strength Coach who wants to make maximum impact on their athletes."

Andy McCoy, NSCA, USAW

Body Creations, Inc.

“Coach Kenn has put together the most comprehensive Football Strength and Conditioning Manual of all-time. He gives you exact speed, conditioning, and strength workouts. He also gives you data of his Division I Football Championship Team to compare your athletes to. This will let you know where your athletes need the most work.”

Travis Mash, USAW L1 SPC

Owner/Head Performance Coach

Mash Elite Performance

LAUNCH DATE SATURDAY

DECEMBER 7th 2013

Big House Power

November Newlsetter from Big House Power

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 19:51:00 +0000

The following is what we sent out to our memberships at BIG HOUSE POWER

Members,

As always we want to thank you for being a part of our TEAM. We feel fortunate and blessed when we receive an email that another individual has joined our site, regardless of member status. We appreciate it very much.

With the beginning of November here, we have just posted a terrific article by Coach Chris Tolzman of Georgetowm University. Chris is a tremendous person and coach. We are extremely proud that he utilizes the Tier System with his athletes. His article, The Versitality of the Tier System is up for our Full Access and Professional Members at the Portal Member Library.

http://www.bighousepower.com/PortalMemberLibrary/TolzmanChrisTheVersatilityoftheTierSystem/tabid/128/Default.aspx

The forum is improving, but we still need more members to jump on board and become involved in our posts. We have had several popular ones reaching over 100 views, which is huge for us. Our most popular post is a Discussion Post started by Coach Cash from Dorman HS with close to 350 views.

In the upcoming weeks we will be introducing a new contributor to the site, Ethan Banning of Triple Threat Performance/Rehab Plus located in Scottsdale,AZ. Ethan is a great coach having worked with several of my post graduate professional athletes when I was at ASU and his combine program is as good as any I have been around. He is now working with Warren Anderson who is one of the best PT's out there. Great combination and they have Olympic Gold Medalist Dan O'Brien with them. Major Word's Win. Ethan has sent us some great material on his Introductory Training [his version of Block Zero], his Athletic Position points, and his Five Fingers of a Fist philosphy.

Big House Power and Coach Kenn are close to releasing his new ebook, The Coach's Strength Training Playbook for Football. This is a template and chart based manual of a collegiate 9 week springII/summer program. It is based on an actual plan utilized to prepare a football team for a championship season.

Coach Kenn has also been nominated for National Strength and Conditioning Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year. He is one of three finalists. If you are a NSCA member you can vote for Coach at this address;

http://www.nsca.com/Membership/Member-Tools/vote-for-strength-and-conditioning-coach-2013/

As the High School football season winds down we wish all those coaches a successful finish. We wish all the college coaches a strong finish as the enter the final 1/4 of their seasons. We wish all the fall sports coaches who are finishing up the best and hope you qualify for the play offs. Finally, we wish all the winter/spring sports especially Wreslting, Basketball, Gymanstics, and Indoor Track and Field the very best as your seasons get under way.

We are excited that the site is improving and hope you feel the same.

WORD'S WIN

BHP STAFF

"When Sweat Turns to Wet ....... Have No Regrets!"

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 14:42:00 +0000

Being in the Iron Game since the age of 12, I have been through the gauntlet of training. Over the last 35 years, my training has been extremely diversified and the goals have changed throughout the decades. Whether it was lifting for football, powerlifitng, coaching, and now Olympic lifting, I thought I had been through it all, until a training session 2 weeks ago. This training session leads to today's post.

I want to start off by saying this story is more prudent for the master's age lifter like myself, who believes in my mantra, "everyday I wake, the calendar tells me I am a day older, so I train my ass off to beat that calendar and become a day younger." I am on a mission to beat father time! With that said you have to be smart. On this particular day, my youthfulness got the best of me.

I train in the early morning. A standard start of my day is a 4 o'clock wake up, clean myself up, have a 10 minute meditation session and then have a walking meditation on my way to the stadium. I usually arrive by 5 and start my training within 45 minutes depending on my athlete's start time. I want to be finished with my work before they begin.

On this particular day, I had an Olympic Training session. These sessions are longer than my #tiersystemstrengthtraining sessions and I have to factor that in on my start time moving forward. With that said, I was unable to finish my session before the start of my athlete's. Up to this point, the last several months of training have been awesome. Although I am nowhere near the strength levels I was once at, I am feeling very good with my density of work, technique, and health. #Meatheadmobility and my conditioning have made a huge difference.

So, feeling youthful, and with a great lather [sweat] attained, I made the decision to finish the last exercise, after my morning groups were done. Here is where the story lies. After 90 minutes of coaching my sweat had turned to wet. Now I am cold and stiff, but youthful in heart and feeling that my mobility work will carry me through. The exercise I needed to complete was snatch grip deadlift off a 1 inch deficit, 5x2 at 85% of my current max. As I am doing my prep sets, I can sense this is not a good idea. I am cold and stiff and my head is definitely not into this. As I get to the working sets, I start getting my mind right and feeling OK, not great, but OK. On the third working set, disaster struck. My first rep may have been my best working rep so far, the second not so good my friends. The bar floated out and away around the shins and out went the back. Luckily, it was not serious and more mid back than lower. Having bulged 3 discs many years ago I am always conscience of my form on deadlifts and squats, especially now since I train pure raw dog [no belt, no suit, not wraps].

Needless to say, I was upset with myself for not being smarter and knowing this would affect my upcoming training sessions. Although I did not miss a session, my mobility hip series has been saving me, this miss did affect my mental strength as my confidence was down for several sessions after this one.

So the moral of this story is, "When sweat turns to wet, have no regrets". If something occurs where you cannot complete a session, chalk up the day and move forward. Your long term progress and confidence will thank you.

Big House Power

Updates to Big House Power

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 20:31:00 +0000

The Big House Power staff would like to thank Coach Ron McKeefery of www.ronmckeefery.com and Iron Game Chalk Talk for allowing up to upload Coach Kenn's 2 part interview to our home page. Thank You Coach.

Also, the staff would like to thank Coach Eric Cash of Dorman HS in Spartanburg, SC for joining our team and writing the 1st of a series of articles on how he implements the Block Zero Concept to his program and how important the Athletic Position is in developing young athletes.

Here is an excerpt of Coach Cash's article

Block Zero
Eric Cash, MS, SCCC
Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Dorman High School

As a young head strength coach in January 2007, I was under the impression that all athletes are ready for the demands and expectations of college strength and conditioning programs. The truth is, a large number of upperclassmen college athletes, while accepting the so called “grind,” are never ready for the initial demands and expectations from sport coaches, professors, and strength and conditioning coaches. When I began training my first crop of freshmen athletes in the summer of 2007, I quickly realized they are vastly different from upperclassmen in their maturity, training knowledge, and training experience. The way I was training my young athletes was not sound and after visiting Joe Kenn at Arizona State in the fall of ’07, the solution was Block Zero.

to continue reading this article

More exciting news is coming from Big House Power Competitive Athletic Training

WORD'S WIN
The BHP Staff
BIG HOUSE POWER

Training Session OC 8-2-13

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 18:04:00 +0000

Release general foam roll

Reset
Upper Body Medley
Lower Body Trifecta

Readiness General
GHR 3x6
Snatch Grip BN Press 3x10
Overhead Squat 3x6

Readiness Specific
Pressing Snatch Balance 3x5
Heaving Snatch Balance 3x5

Main Session
Clean Jerk
2x3 - 1 OH Press
x3 - 1 Jerk
x1
Work 5x2
Block15 Clean Push Press
3x3
Snatch Grip Power Pull
3x5
RDL
3x8

Training Session L 7-31-13

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 17:58:00 +0000

Release general foam roll

Readiness - strength
T4 RFE Squat w band 2x8 each
T5 Inverted Row 2x10
N Hydrafitness Neck Flex Ext 2x12
PC GHR 2x8
PS KB Bells Up "T" Raise 2x12

Tier 1 Lower Body
Root Plank 3x:60,:30,:30
Reset1 Seated Bent Knee AB/ADduction 3x6 each
Reset2 Split Squat w Band 3x5 each
Resistance x8,x5,x3

Work 5x3 ascending

Tier 2 Upper Body
Root Band Side Crunch 3x12
Reset Band Face Pull 3x12
Resistance1 Curl x15,x12,x10, x8
Resistance2 G6 Bench Press x10, x8, x6 G4 x5 paused

Tier 3 Total Body
Root Plate Lift Kneeling 2x6 each
Reset Prone Hip Flexion 2x6 each
Resistance Box Jump x5,x5, x3, x1

Training Session OS July 29 2-13

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:31:00 +0000

Release -

Basic Foam Roll

Reset -

Upper Body Band Medley

Vertical Pull Aparts x10
Fly x10
Horizontal Pull Aparts x10
Posterior Shoulder "M" Raise x6 each
Diagonal Abduction x10 each
Diagonal Adduction x10 each

Lower Body Band

Seated Bent Knee AB/AD x10 each
TKE x15 each
Split Squat x15 each

Readiness General

Medley 3 Rounds

Glute Ham Raise x6
Snatch Grip BH Press x10
Overhead Squat x6

Readiness Specific

Pressing Snatch Balance 3x5
Heaving Snatch Balance 3x5

Main Resistance
Snatch From Hang [straps]
3x3, 3x3, 3x1
Clean
x3,x3,x3,x3,2x1,x3
Snatch Grip Deadlift [straps]
5x1

7-27-13 Session T Training Session

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 23:38:00 +0000

Release - general foam roll plus softball hips hamstrings

Readiness-Strength
T4 Single Leg Hip Thrust foot elevated band 2x8 each
T5 Concentric Only Pistol Squat 2x8 each second set banded
N Lateral Flexion/Extension 2x12
PC - GHR 2x8
PS - TRX Face Pulls 2x20

Tier 1 Total Body
Prep Pro
Root - Rotation to Punch 4x6 each
Reset 1 - SL Good Mornine 4x5 each band
Reset 2 - Split Squat 4x5 each band
Resistance - Deadlift x5,x3,x2,x1
Work
3x5
OTS x5

Tier 2
Root - Iso Back Ext 2x:30
Reset - Lying Straight Leg AB/ADduction 2x6 each
Resistance - SSB Front Squat 3x5

Tier 3
Root - OH Plate Sit Up Straight Leg 2x10
Reset - Pro/Retraction 2x10
Resistance 1 Bent Over Row 5x8
Resistance 2 Dumbbell Elevator Top Down 5x8

Training Log Session U 7-25-13

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 15:09:00 +0000

Release - Basic Foam Roll

Readiness [Strength]
T4 - Pull Ups 2x5
T5 - Single Arm Kettlebell Swings 2x8 [WFH tech]
Neck - Flexion Extension 2x12
Posterior Chain - Glute Ham Raise 2x8
Posterior Shoulder - "T" Raise 2x15

Resistance
T1 - Upper Body
Prep Progression
Root - Single Arm Overhead Sit Up 3x6 each
Reset - Band Overhead Shrug 3x12
Resist1 Pull - Single Arm KB Row 3x10
Resist2 Push - Single Arm DB OH Press 3x8
Work
Resist1 Pull - Supine Pulldown 3x6 with 6 count mid point hold
Resist2 Push - OH Barbell Press 3x12

T2 - Total Body
Root - Kneeling Chop 2x6 each
Reset - Prone Straight Leg Hip Extension 2x6 each
Resist - Feet Elevated Hip Thrust 4x6

T3 - Lower Body
Root - Iso Back Ext 2x:30
Reset - TKE 2x10
Resist - Barbell Reverse Lunge 3x5 each

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 18:52:00 +0000

Olympic Day 7-23-13
Release - general foam roll
Readiness/Reset

Upper Body Band Medley

Vertical Pull Apart Progression x10
Fly x10
Horizontal Pull Apart Progression x10
Posterior Capsule Rotation "M" Raise x6 each

Lower Body Band Medley

Good Morning x10
Split Squat 2x6 each
TKE x10 each
Lying Straight Leg AB/ADDuction

Medley 3 rounds

Snatch Grip BN Press x10
Overhead Squat x5
Glute Ham Raise x5

Resistance
Clean and Jerk
3x3 Clean
1x3 Clean last rep Jerk
1x2 Clean last rep Jerk
5x2 Clean and Jerk
High Pocket Clean to Push Press
3x3
Snatch Grip Power Pull
3x5
RDL
3x6

Sleeper Prospect Gets MAC Offer

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Sleeper Prospect Gets MAC Offer: "Breaking News from 24-7Football.com: Gilbert (Az.) Puma High School OLB Joe Kenn gets first offer"

The IYCA Youth Fitness Specialist Level One Preparation and Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:37:00 +0000

I am very particular when choosing my alliances with others in the performance industry. I am going to watch and evaluate how others in the organization interact, how members interact, and more importantly the feedback I hear when at an event, in the hallways. As I became to know more about the IYCA and some of individuals who are associated with it, I became very intrigued.

The first time I really heard of the IYCA was in a facebook discussion with Pat Rigsby. Pat had just taken the IYCA Youth Fitness Specialist certification and like I usually am in cases like this [a skeptic] I asked him why. He gave me a very qualified answer and I left it at that.

My next experience was at Carlo Alvarez's annual St Xavier Strength and Conditioning clinic in Cincinnati, Ohio. I met Pat for the first time face to face and I would later meet the founder of the IYCA, Brian Grasso, as he and I were speaking later in the day.

I was certainly intrigued and impressed with Brian's presentation on youth training as he was with my presentation on teaching the power clean with the demonstrations being performed by my oldest son. We spoke briefly afterwards and went on our way.

The following February when I was still a resident of Louisville, the IYCA held its annual symposium downtown and I was invited as a guest. I was very impressed with the turn out and the enthusiasm of the clinicians. My relationship grew with Brian and we began doing mini phone interviews during the summer for his site.

As many of you may know, the Block Zero program we implement with our newcomers is our foundation program. As I have found out, it has a lot of similarities with the IYCA's youth developmental planning for fitness. I wanted to learn more about their long term planning so I reached out to Brian for information on his Level One certification. I recently passed the exam and I wanted to share some of the highlights and comments I have.

Before I go any further, I highly recommend you acquire the Level One material, even if you choose not to take the exam, the information shared by Dr. Kwame Brown and Brian is very valuable to say the least. I learned a lot and was reinforced a number of times as far as my Block Zero direction.

The number one thing I really like is how they utilize a 4 Part System of coaching based on temperament [motivation and skill].

When Coaching various types of athletes they have it brocken down into these distinct categories:

1 Delegate - High Motivation/High Skill [HH/HS]

2 Inspire - Low Motivation/High Skill [LM/HS]

3 Guide - High Motivation/Low Skill [HM/LS]

4 Direct - Low Motivation/Low Skill [LM/LS]

I really like this approach and it has already helped me in my coaching athletes younger than I am used to working with.

I would love to discuss with Brian a class of individuals you see in athletics that he did not bring up, Moderate Motivation/High Skill [MM/HS] and High Motivation/Moderate Skill [HM/MS]. This is a little selfish because I believe this describes both my sons. I would love for Brian to give me the BUZZ words to use when working with them. To me, my youngest son, HM/MS, is what I would deem anyone in this category, the classic over achiever, like his dad was in sports. These are the kids that give everything they have all day, yet are still behind the gifted athletes going half speed. The MM/HS athlete may be an under achiever, but that is usually the LM/HS individual. My oldest is sometimes motivated sometimes not, I believe these athletes get bored. They will usually respond to challenges but, become stagnant with daily similarities in programming. He has improved though I will give him that.

The second thing I like is the MOLD theory.

M - Movement must dominate

O - Open to Communication Variances

L - Learning Style Variances

D - Don't Train... Teach

I love D - anyone can train someone else, not all can teach. I have been known to say, a coach who rely's on bells, whistles, gimmicks is usually not a teacher. This falls into another great IYCA mantra "COOL versus CONCEPT"

The third and maybe the most important is the stages of learning and how it relates to age groups.

6-9 years = "Guided Discovery"

10-13 years = "Learning Exploration"

14+ years = "Train with Application"

As I realize that the IYCA is geared toward these age levels, I want to make a note to Brian and all IYCA members as well as other individuals who work in the athlete development field. These same stages are needed with individuals at higher chronological ages because they may have not been exposed to these teaching strategies at an earlier age.

There is some distinct similarities to how we develop our teaching progressions in BLOCK Zero as the IYCA does with youth. I truly believe that the lack of free play, deemphasis of physical education at the elementary levels, and the overuse of sport specific skill training at earlier ages has lead to more athletes having very little general physical fitness capabilities. I was very refreshed and reassured that BLOCK Zero has a tremendous amount of merit with High School and College aged athletes. I thank the IYCA for giving me more ammunition going forward with BLOCK Zero development.

That's my take and I am very serious about recommending this program to all individuals working with non athletes and athletes to improve their health and physical fitness.

WORDS WIN

Coach Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

Boise State vs Virginia Tech 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:35:00 +0000

The WOW! Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:23:00 +0000

You may call me a simpleton, but I am impressed and amazed by some of the many things we take for granted in our daily lives. The biggest is when I am on a plane, it leaves the ground, and I am actually flying in this huge machine. WOW!. Another is watching huge cruise ships just as easily floating in the ocean as a tree leaf. WOW! Suspension Bridges, Watching them implode a Las Vegas Casino that is right in the middle of two other casinos, and cell phones. WOW! Get the picture, I am in awe of this stuff.

I am also in awe when I see "live" and tremendous feats of strength in a training hall, gym or plane old weight room. I have been training since I was in 6th grade with the DeNapoli brothers, Mike and Dom on Roger Ave. Having been a strength and conditioning/performance coach the last 20 years, I love watching athletes perform movements and do things that, simply stated, I can't do. Being around as long as I have, I have been in many gyms across the nation, been invited to watch some of the greatest lifters train, and have grown to love the State Slogan of Missouri "Show-Me". If you are going to "Talk the Talk you better Walk the Walk". You tube and video are OK, but I want to see it IN LIVING COLOR.

I train in one of the best gym's in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina, Jack King's Gym. Jack is a pioneer in the strength game and his members are extremely loyal. I have trained there on and off for over 10 years and now that I live 3 miles away, this is my home training facility. Yesterday, I had one of those WOW! moments. I was in the middle of my Dumbbell Single Arm Row coupled with Dumbbell Single Arm Bench Press medley, when an older gentleman who I have seen before was getting ready to do a set of pull-ups. He asks me, "Have you ever done 1-finger pull-ups?", I gave one of those looks and said excuse me. He repeated his original question. I looked at him and said "I can't barely do one pull up let alone a 1-finger pull up". He then proceeded to bang out four reps. WOW! Oh yeh, the gentleman was over 60 years old. WORDS WIN! He uses his middle finger and braces it on the bar with the pointer and ring fingers. WOW! I have to get on a pull up program now!

WORDS WIN!

Coach Joe "Big House" Kenn @ Big House Power

BEWARE OF THE 48H

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:26:00 +0000

Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers and other guardians of potential college bound student-athletes, beware of the 48H. As a parent of a potential college bound football player, I have learned a lot during the recruiting process. As a college coach for 20 years, I thought I had it all down, but on the parent side I was slightly behind.

I knew there were certain academic standards that needed to be completed for my son to be eligible to compete in intercollegiate athletics. What I became very aware of was making sure the classes he was taking would credit him with "core" credit. A specific number of core credits are required to be completed in order for your student-athlete to be considered a NCAA qualifier. What are those core credits and how many are needed? There are 16 core class credits needed to become eligible to compete on the college level. They are broken down into 6 categories with a specific number of credits coming from each.

CORE CREDITS/UNITS

English - 4 units = 8 semesters

Math - 3 units = 6 semesters

Social Science - 2 units = 4 semesters

Natural Science - 2 units = 4 semesters

Additional English, Math, Natural Science - 1 units = 2 semesters

Additional Core - 4 units = 8 semesters

This is where a high school's 48H form comes into play. You can find your student-athlete's high school 48H form on the following website, https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/hs/index_hs.html. On the left hand column you will find the bullet point, list of approved core courses [formerly 48H]. Click that icon and then find your student-athlete's high school.

I recommend you print several copies, one for yourself and one for your student-athlete's guidance counselor and possibly the head coach. I would be very proactive on this. I am aware that high schools do have individuals who know this material but I promise you some do not. My son's guidance counselor looked at me like I was an alien when I mentioned the 48H form when discussing his schedule with her.

The 48H form will list what courses are considered core classes at that specific school. If your student-athlete has been enrolled in more then one school as mine has, you will need to review the 48H forms from both schools to make sure your child is on track to be eligible. It is imperative that you request unofficial transcripts every semester to check the course titles of the classes your student-athlete is taking. If those classes do not match the 48H, THEY DON'T COUNT!

Here is why your knowledge of your student-athlete's academic career is important. Your student-athlete could be doing everything necessary to graduate from high school. He/She has taken all the necessary requirements to achieve his/her high school diploma. The problem lies when your student-athlete has not taken or passed the required core units to be eligible to participate in sports in college.

This usually occurs with most high school football players because their electives are generally advanced PE, which is a weightlifting class or football. In addition to this there may be classes that are required for them to graduate high school that are not considered core units. My son was required to have 2 units=4 semesters of computers and 1/2 unit=1 semester of health to graduate high school. Those classes are not core unit classes.

These factors put a tremendous amount of pressure for student-athletes to pass all of their classes during their high school academic career. They have very few chances for error because of the requirements needed to graduate from their high school as well as elective classes related to their sport.

It should be noted that this is just one of many steps needed to give your student-athlete a chance to become a NCAA qualifier. Also, your student-athlete may become an NCAA qualifier, but there are some universities that require a higher standard than the NCAA. An example of this is the major universities in the state of Arizona. They require 4 units of Math. In this case, if your child only has 3 units of math, they may have to have the University athletic department appeal to the admissions committee to allow entrance with a deficiency.

There are other issues that are important in this process. You need to understand the sliding scale of Core GPA and SAT/ACT Test scores. Simply stated the higher the core GPA the lower the needed test score and vice versa. Your student-athlete does need a minimum 2.0 core GPA. Remember, non core courses do not count in this GPA. Those A's in PE are irrelevant.

You need to register your student-athlete with the NCAA Clearinghouse. This should be done in the student-athlete's junior year. This group tracks your student's eligibility. Again be proactive and seek help if needed.

If I can be of any help personally, please contact me at coachkenn@bighousepower.com and mention 48H in the subject line. I recommend jumping on this as early as possible. I know I will be way ahead of the game when my youngest enters high school in two years.

Sorry for the gap in my blog. I have relocated my "base camp" to Winston-Salem, NC and I am working hard on finalizing some very exciting projects and relationships. I can't wait to let everyone know what they are. As always thanks for your support.

WORDS WIN

Coach Joe "Big House" Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

Squat without arms 275 kg/ 605 lb

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Mon, 31 May 2010 19:28:00 +0000

GOAL SETTING

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:08:00 +0000

This week's blog will be short and sweet. Why? Because I want interaction. Whether I get it through your comments directly to the blog, my forums at Big House Power, my facebook profile, fan, or group pages.

Goal Setting

This is an interesting topic for me as we al talk about goals. What are our goals? What do we want to accomplish? My goal for this blog is simple, to acquire information. I want to hear what you feel the best way to accomplish your goals our? This is being inspired by my rereading of one of my all time favorite books, THE DNA OF SUCCESS by Jack Zufelt. I will accumulate all of the feedback and write up the responses. I will leave you with this thought from Zufelt's book,

"Goal Setting is the reigning king of all success techniques. For decades we have been told if we simply write down our goals and read them daily, somehow we will reach them. My research shows that eight out of the ten things a person writes on a goal list will never happen. Everyone has goals they don't achieve and many they don't even begin to work on!"

Thanks in advance for your responses

WORDS WIN
Coach Kenn

Football Camps a Parent's Opinion

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:52:00 +0000

My oldest son Joe, plays quarterback. To me, this is the most political of all sports positions [a blog for another day]. With that, I have attended several camps over the years. They include a combine, Team 7-on-7's, College One Day Camps, Show Case Camps, and Fundamental Camps. I have an opinion on all of them, so bare with me.

High School Combines

Combines are necessary evils. Why? Because all coaches are intrigued with measurables. Measurables are height, weight, speed, power, agility, etc. If an athlete has great measurables, combines are great. If they don't, they're not. For athletes that lie in between these two extremes, like my son, combines do not benefit them much in my opinion. My biggest problems with high school combines are that they make a tremendous amount of money on parents who are not truly in tune to a real recruiting process (I over heard several parents speaking of attending up to five combines and one of their son's hadn't even played a snap of varsity ball yet) and that attending athletes are training specifically for combine tests and are manufacturing results that do not transfer to the game. They are leaving themselves open for injury by not preparing for their sport. NOT a Words Win. You want a WORDS WIN - produce Solid Game Tape! There is one caveat to this that I should note. If your son is a blue chip recruit, a specific combine may be needed to provide a shot at the main ALL AMERICAN games that are now played but these are generally invite only combines.

Team 7-on-7's

I actually like these because there is competition. If the tournament is sponsored by a university it is also a good chance for the coaches to see your son perform. During these pass skeleton scrimmages, score is kept. These are solid camps because the high school coaches run their team's offense and defense. There are no linemen involved except for a stand-in center. My only objection to these camps, and not a big one, is to those teams who switch their offensive and defensive packages strictly to win the tournament. I feel the teams should have the practical application of their season playbook. Like I said, not a big issue, the goal it to WIN, isn't it?

On Campus/Off Site College Sponsored One Day Camps

As far as recruiting goes these camps are number one in my book. These camps are run by the university or college staffs and your son gets coached by the position coach of the school. If your son is on their recruiting list this gives them a first hand look at his skills. Some colleges/universities use camp as a time to early offer your son, if he is their type of player. If he is an underclassmen and they like what they see, they will begin the recruiting process at an earlier stage. During these camps, the position coaches do a solid job coaching individual drills because, even though they cannot promote it, these are recruiting camps and they want to see you son's specific footwork and agility.

Show Case Camps

These camps in my opinion are great for the athletes who have the recruiting service notoriety. These athletes are early offer guys. Here is how you will know if your son is at a show case camp. 1 - if there are individuals there who represent the major scouting services, 2 - there are several big time recruits present, and 3 - you may have to be invited. If your son is not a top recruit, the positive side is that they and you get to see how they fare against the "best". If you keep your eyes open you will realize that there are some athletes who are truly legit and some others that are programmed and combined hyped.

Fundamental Position Camps

These are my kind of camps. No hype, just good old fashion teaching. These camps take the time not only to put your son through drills, but also teach them as well. Most camps will run individual drills, but they are done for filler. At fundamental camps, teaching is a premium. There are not a lot of these left. If you can find one cherish it and continue to return on a yearly basis.

I have found one of these camps for Quarterbacks which is why I chose camps as the subject of this week's blog. JEFF TRICKEY QUARTERBACK CAMP is my pick for any quarterback who truly want's to develop his skills. Coach Trickey is hand's on at every site, his staff is made up of Coach Trickey's former campers and players. It is a 2 day camp with 4 hour sessions each day. In addition to what your son will learn as a quarterback, Coach Trickey's mini speeches throughout the camp will inspire you as a parent and instill values in your son that sometimes only get through to them from a coach's perspective. This, was my son's 4th Trickey camp. Two in Arizona and two in Cincinnati. He has benefitted and grown every year that he has attended. This year's came with an added bonus...and I believe my son will take Coach up on his offer to work his camps next year! That is a WORDS WIN!

Till next week,

As Coach Trickey would say "Except the Role of Leadership"

As I would say WORDS WIN!

Joe Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

The CSCCa National Conference, Orlando FL.

noreply@blogger.com (Coach "House") — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:19:00 +0000

The Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association held it's 10th annual conference in Orlando, Florida at the Marriott World Center. This marked the 10th anniversary of the Association's birth and it's growth in membership, sponsorships, exhibitors, and importance to the strength and conditioning profession, especially on the college level has been impressive. The vision of the 10 member group who help found this association is truly a reality. There is a strong membership base and there is a true camaraderie with all the coaches when they join each other one time per year under one roof.

I have been a member of this association for all 10 years. I have been an active member for the last three. I have little regrets in my 20 plus years in the field but, after being involved recently, I wished I would have gotten involved sooner. I should have listened to all those coaches who continued to call me year in and year out to attend. All I will say is, the CSCCa is doing an outstanding job of doing it the right way and I believe they do care about their membership. If you are a young and eager strength and conditioning coach whose goal is to work in college, this is an association you need to belong to.

As usual the conference was ran very well and the speaker list was solid. I personally attended 2 lectures, "Dueling Football Coaches" with Coach Kevin Yoxall of Auburn and Tim Socha of Boise State and "Lessons Learned" by legend Coach Johnny Parker. As I sat in the front row for both of these lectures, I was not disappointed.

In Dueling Coaches, the topic was In Season Training. I was again excited to see that both coaches train their "travel squad" three times per week. As you know I am a huge proponent of 3 times per week strength training year round. This is becoming the norm in season with more and more teams. It just makes sense with the In Season being the longest uninterrupted training program we have on the collegiate level. Both coaches did a great job of presenting their material. Key points for me were; "YOX" will train his red shirts 5 days per week if they have a home game with Friday and Saturday's sessions being work capacity related. Tim is very aware of making sure his training sessions for his travel squad does not take away too much energy for the most important training sessions of the week, PRACTICE. His goal is to increase/maintain strength while using as little energy possible, saving the athlete's fuel for COMPETITION.

Lessons Learned with Coach Johnny Parker was absolutely great. Coach Parker has 3 super rings as an NFL strength and conditioning coach and he was truly humble and grateful to be able to address the crowd. Being a historian of the field, Johnny Parker is one of the true greats. I remember the first time I had spoken to Coach, he cold called me while I was working at Arizona State. Imagine that, a man with "3 RIngs" wants to talk to me about training. We spent over an hour swapping training ideas back in forth since we were both implementing principles of Westside Barbell. While Coach was working with the 49'ers his assistant at the time Duane Carlisle and I struck up a relationship that is one I cherish and when Duane was promoted when Coach Parker retired, one of my dearest friends/family Mark Uyeyama was hired to be his assistant. GO NINERS!

Here are some of the bullet points that stuck out to me while Coach was telling us life changing stories on his path to success.

NEVER LET ANYONE DEPENDING ON YOU DOWN
CREATE CIRCUMSTANCES
THINK ABOUT THE DAY AND HOW CAN I DO IT BETTER
KIDS WANT TO KNOW THE REPERCUSSIONS OF THEIR ACTIONS
CAN'T REST ALWAYS SOMEBODY YOUNGER OF HUNGRIER
MAKE'EM FEEL SPECIAL, THEY CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING
COACH THE KIDS NOT THE WEIGHTS

The highlight of the conference is the Thursday evening Master Strength and Conditioning Coach awards dinner. This is the highest achievement you can earn in the CSCCa. I received my Master's jacket last year and I am honored to be apart of this group of men and women that totals 92 after this year's inductions. As I have become a veteran in the field, I took the opportunity after the dinner to round up as many of my former staff who worked with me at various places for a group picture. I have been blessed to be around so many good people and this picture was my highlight of the conference. A definite WORDS WIN!

As I mentioned earlier, the conference is definitely about camaraderie and another highlight was the photo shot of the 4 full time strength and conditioning coaches in Boise State history who were all in attendance this year. Ron Thomson was the first full time strength coach from 1987-1994. I followed Ron after serving as his assistant for three years from 1994-1998. Jeff Pitman took the lead in 1998-2006. Tim Socha is now running the show and has been there since the 2006 season.

I would like to thank Chuck and Becky Stiggins for their hospitality and their tremendous commitment to the CSCCa. Chuck is the Executive Director and one of the founders. Chuck and Becky pour their heart and soul into making this event and association a tremendous success. It is evident in the emotion that they both show whenever they address the crowd or speak to you one on one. They get it. It's about people.

Till next week

WORDS WIN

Coach Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER