Big House Power Competitive Athletic Training

Sleeper Prospect Gets MAC Offer

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

The WOW! Factor

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

GOAL SETTING

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — 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 Kenn) — 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 Kenn) — 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

Villanova Strength and Conditioning Clinic Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:31:00 +0000

Friday, April 30th and Saturday May 1st marked the 4th annual Villanova Strength and Conditioning Clinic. This clinic is fast becoming a must for coaches in the Northeast. So much so, that starting in 2011 it will serve as one of the Hammer Strength sponsored clinic stops. When I was asked to speak, this was a no brainer. I want to specially thank Lon and Justus for giving me an opportunity to be apart of this event.

This is the first clinic I have spoken at in a while that has a dual track. A dual track for those that an unfamiliar with this format is 2 speakers speaking a the same time. Lon hosted the event and was also to liaison to the basketball track and Justus was the lead for the football track. I want to congratulate Justus for being named American Football Monthly FCS Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year. That is a huge accomplishment as is winning the FBS National Championship.

The clinic started on Friday evening. I did not arrive until Saturday morning as I attended the Elite 11 Regional QB camp at The Ohio State University with my son. He held his own with some very talented guys. I was proud of the way he handled himself. As you can guess I spent the day on the football side of things although I wished I would have listened to Heather Mason of Tennessee speak. I have a tremendous amount for respect for Heather and enjoy her presentations. She works for a true living legend in Coach Pat Summitt.

One of my favorites, Al Johnson started the day off on the football side of things. Al spoke on a similar topic as San Jose but, this time he had some football prayers demo some of his competition finishers.

Buddy Morris was next. I love Buddy. He is one of the "realist" guys I have met in this field. My first encounter from Buddy was a phone call 8 years ago when he heard we were doing some Westside principles. From there I have had the pleasure of being apart of his crew and feel honored that he trusts me and we can agree to disagree on things without acting like donkeys to one another. Buddy spoke on his training methodology and how he trains the BIG SKILL aka Linemen at University of Pittsburgh. As much as I would like to give you some insight to what he said, I would do it an injustice. You will just have to trust when I say, Buddy is the one of the smartest coaches I have ever met, hands down!!!

Tony Decker spoke next on rehabilitation and you relationship with the training staff.

I spoke after lunch and pretty much spoke about developing you system of training. My goal was to get people thinking about how they should bring the artistic and creative approach to the science of training. We must remember our laboratory is the gym so we have the ability to see things that cannot be read in a book or journal.

John McKenna spoke on varied implement training to finish the day. Battling ropes, kettle bells etc.

Overall a great day. Now heading to Orlando for the CSCCa. I will be there all day Thursday. Hit me up if you are there.

WORDS WIN!

Joe Kenn at Big House Power

HAMMER STRENGTH CLINIC SAN JOSE

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:41:00 +0000

The last Hammer Strength Clinic of the year was held April 23-24 at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose. Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave Brown, who played there, was the Head Football Coach there for 20 plus years, was one of the featured speakers as well as a tremendous host. There room is awesome. It sits beneath the home stands and has a clear view of the football field.

My trip started several days earlier as I visited both Duane Carlisle and Mark Uyeyama of the San Francisco 49'ers. This was draft week so the there was a buzz in the building. I also visited with soon to be named GM Trent Baalke, who I have known for over ten years through the on campus scouting process.

It was a great visit. Their guys worked hard. I was impressed. Duane and Uye do a great job of working together as a team in the development of the program and have a very good coach assisting them in DROY!

CLINIC

I was excited to be able to be apart of this clinic for several reasons. 1 - this would be the first time that I would speak at a clinic in which a former staff member was speaking. Uye is my boy and it was my pleasure to introduce him as well as all the speakers, 2 - One of my favorites was speaking also, Al Johnson and, 3 - Tim Socha of Boise State was speaking. As a former Bronco, I wanted to meet Tim and hear him speak. The Broncos are Beasts!

Friday night was the round table discussion. All six speakers were in attendance. Some very good questions were asked ranging from specific core training, squat depth, and utilizing the deadlift in your program. One of the reasons I like the Hammer Strength Clinics is, they are not afraid to bring in a variety of thinkers. There were some mini versions of "I agree to disagree" answers by the speakers.

Mike Linn of UCLA started Saturday off. Mike had to leave for UCLA's spring game that night so it was good to visit with Mike Friday evening. Mike spoke on In Season programming and his overall programming as a whole. I did like that they lift travel guys 3 days per weeks as does Coach Socha at BSU. Mike's In Season program is based on 60% primary movements, 10% secondary movements, and 30% player specific movements. Player specific is based on screening. I like this approach and found it interesting that during the winter program he does 0% player specific.

I spoke next on Block Zero. We did an interactive session with the clinicians. Enough Said.

Tim Socha of Boise State was next. He also spoke on In Season training as well as outlining his whole yearly plan. Tim and Mike had some similar annual plan bullet points that I liked. They do very little conditioning in winter program with the exception of their version of mat drills. Both train 3 days per week during session which I am a big proponent of. Tim does conditioning work after their lower body day 2x's per week. There highest yardage of work comes mid summer. Tim made a point that it is the highest yardage not the hardest work. Tim spoke about how important tradition is a BSU and yes the still run DECKS!

Coach Brown was up right after lunch and did a great job of laying out the curriculum they use for their class schedule. They have 8 classes a day running through their facility. One is a general fitness class and the rest are athletics. As with all programs, he stresses getting your coaches of all sports on board with the strength program. Coach Brown utilizes a lot of the tracking programs that Coach Epley has brought to the NSCA.

My boy Uye was next. Another presenter another In Season program topic. Uye spoke of Coach Singletary's goal for his team's identity, Tough, Physical, Relentless, Discipline, and Smart. Mark spoke a lot about assessing the athlete's outside the weight room especially, the distractions and outside issues that occur in everyday lives. Mark made a point to talk about what makes the athlete better, SPORTS MASTERY. Mark broke down sports mastery as physical, technical, and tactical. The physical aspect is developed in the strength and conditioning program and the technical and tactical are developed through the football plan.

Al Johnson of Champions Edge closed out the clinic with a talk on Motivation. He spoke of his Ohio State team whose seniors had an ego problem. He put a coat rack in the corner of the weight room and told his seniors to hang their egos of the coat rack and when the leave take their egos with them. Needless to say, at the end of the year, those seniors burned that coat rack after the last practice before upsetting MIAMI for the National Championship. He made a strong point that all coaches need to remember, "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care"

Thanks to Rich Gray, and the staff of Hammer Strength/Life Fitness for giving back to the coaches.

Heading to Elite 11 Regional this Friday. It's GO TIME for my son Joe. Saturday catch a 6:15 flight to Villanova for their Clinic this weekend

We have a new blog up WORDS WIN, for motivation through competitiveness and words.

WORDS WIN!

Joe Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

ATHLETES, COACHES, and NASCAR

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:11:00 +0000

I am a NASCAR fan. I said it. A kid who was born and raised on Long Island is a fan. Actually, I began following the races while I lived in Phoenix. When I tell people I enjoy watching the races they automatically think I started when I was a college student-athlete at Wake Forest, which is in the heart of NASCAR, North Carolina.

As I became more intrigued with the "team" part of NASCAR, I realized that more goes into a driver's quest for the Winner's Circle then one man driving in circles for 500 miles at a time. Besides the many behind the scenes individuals who work for the teams; mechanics, fabricators, tire specialist, etc., it is the guys who you see on TV on race day that I will talk about today.

The "TEAM" as best as I can describe starts with what I will call the Head Coach which in NASCAR is the Crew Chief. The Star Quarterback is the Driver. The offensive line are the guys who mean the most, THE PIT CREW. That's right, the PIT CREW in my perspective is the most important part of the team on race day. Their ability to get the job done can make a break a team's position on the track. Yes, the Crew Chief makes the final decision, the Driver gives the Crew Chief the track and car information that is needed to make the necessary adjustment to WIN! But, to me the PIT CREW and the behind the scene coaches are the real stars of NASCAR.

Why do I like the Pit Crews? I'll tell you why, I can relate to them. In this day and age of competition, the new era of pit crew members are former college athletes, in particular former football players. Also, teams now have strength and conditioning coaches on site training these athletes as well as pit coaches, running practices to shave tenths of a second off a pit stop. I have seen live and on TV how many spots can be lost during a pit by the slightest difference in pit stop times.

Teams are now recruiting, calling athletic departments in which they may have established a relationship with looking for athletes who may be interesting in a career or job in NASCAR as a pit crew member. Two of my former athletes, Brett Nenaber and Wes Evans at ASU are associated with Team Red Bull. Brett is now a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at ASU and Wes is still pitting for Red Bull doing various tasks and training to be a jack man. Former Crew Chief Greg Miller and Jack Man Shaun Peet did an outstanding job of coming on our campus and presenting a career in NASCAR as a Pit Crew member.

Jeff Kerr, former East Carolina great and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at North Carolina Chapel Hill is one of the Best Jack Men in the game. Matt Myers, a former Wake Forest football player is the rear tire changer for Dale Earnhardt Jr's 88 Team.

A very good friend of mine and a man who gave me my very first coaching job, Keith Flynn is now a pit crew coach for four time champions Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Keith is a great man and coach who brings a different perspective to the garage because of his experiences as a Head Football Coach.

Former UNC-Chapel Hill Strength Coach, Ben Cook, is the strength and conditioning coach for Team Red Bull. These athletes that work the pits are no different than any other athlete who is training for success. The same with their coaches. This is a job that demands perfection of execution for 12-14 seconds at a time and it is this group of people that have a major influence on the outcome on Race Day.

click photo for attached article

A little bit of a "curve ball" for this week's blog, but wanted to share some of the numerous opportunities out there for athletes, coaches, and strength and conditioning coaches.

WORDS WIN

Joe Kenn at Big House Power

HITTING THE CURVE

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:21:00 +0000

As we go through our life's journey, we all want things to go according to plan. I believe deep down that if we were able to lay out what would happen in our life, it would go pretty smoothly. As we relate this to the sport of baseball, we would want to be fast ball hitters only. We would be OK with a couple of breaking balls thrown in but for the most part, we want fast balls, right down the middle.

Obviously, this is not the case in our journey. There are way too many variables, obstacles, choices, decisions, issues, and people who can change our outlook year to year, month to month, day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute, second to second. We can plan any aspect of our life and for the most part follow that path pretty solidly. It's when you get thrown the curve ball you realize that there is more to life than the sweet picture you had hoped for.

I am a fast ball hitter. Always have been and always will be. I have had a pretty straight lined path of where I was going and how I was going to get there. I have had some breaking balls thrown in and probably a couple of curves, but none of those curves had in baseball terms the "nasty" stuff. Until now.

Nasty Curve balls are life's ADVERSITIES and when adversity strikes hard, there is only one question you can ask yourself; HOW ARE YOU GOING OUT? I have had a nasty curve ball thrown into my life and I am fighting the good fight to stay focused on the new and exciting possibilities that lie ahead. Is it a career move in a different direction? How will it effect my family at the inner core? How will it effect my oldest son as he enters his senior year at high school? Will my youngest son enter his 3rd school in 4 years? Will our relocation allow us to prosper as a family? Will relocation allow us to prosper professionally?

What am I getting at? I will tell you. Be prepared for any issues that may arise and hopefully when the nasty curve ball comes you are ready to react in a manner that will allow you continued success. You will become a better nasty curve ball hitter by being a better curve ball and breaking ball hitter. One of my favorite lines we use in coaching is "Off the Script", throwing athletes curves as they would face in competition. In most sports, competition is a game of act and react. Reacting and winning is hitting the curve.

In business, you always here of a plan B. Plan B's are when a curve ball is thrown. I think we all do a pretty good job of adjusting to curve balls in our professional lives, but we don't necessarily think about them in our personal lives. If things are going good, no worries right?

Believe me when the nasty curve is thrown, many things you have never thought about come into play. When it's all going good, we all think we are King of the Castle! Nobody wants to think about when the nasty curve ball is coming, I never did until now. I promise you, I will become a better nasty curve ball hitter because of my present experiences. And when the question arises HOW ARE YOU GOING OUT?, I WILL HIT THAT NASTY ONE RIGHT OUT OF THE PARK. WORDS WIN!

News and Notes

Hammer Strength Clinics - San Antonio was another successful weekend. Speaker highlights were Jeff "MAD DOG" Madden of Texas, Mark Uyeyama of the San Fransisco 49'ers, and Yancy McKnight of Iowa State University. Also, Larry Coker, the hew football coach of UT-San Antonio sat in the audience for the Friday night forum and addressed the clinicians on Saturday. WORDS WIN on that. Coach Coker is a National Championship football coach and he will be successful starting a new program at UTSA. April 23-24 is the next one in SAN JOSE. I am there for that one.

NCAA Clearinghouse

If you have children who are high school athletes and want to participate in intercollegiate athletics, they need to be registered into the clearinghouse. This is necessary to track core classes and eligibility requirements that are needed to participate in college. More of this later.

Have a Great Day

Joe Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

Scrap the Script

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:54:00 +0000

Sticking with my presentation theme, I want to bring to attention a quote out of "Bo's Lasting Lessons", by Bo Schembechler and John U. Bacon. Anyone who is a coach, manager, president or leader should read this book. It is evident why Coach Schembechler was a tremendous coach.

As I read this book, I found it to be extremely refreshing and helpful for 2 main reasons. One, I was on the right path with many of my decisions. Two, it also made me rethink several major issues that arose and I realized I probably could have handled those better.

As a presenter at many clinics and conferences, I am always wondering how to be creative in my presentation style. As I have gotten older, I have come to the conclusion that slides, hand outs, and maybe even subject matter does not make the presentation a success. What does is your style! How are you going to keep the audience engaged! For me, it is speaking from the heart and now I feel even more justified after reading boys book.

From Bo, page 224

"If you want to give a great speech, talk about something you are passionate about. Know your audience, or else you won't know what motivates them. And if you have a script, scrap it. Far better to speak from the heart than from your notes"

Is it really necessary to turn in a slide presentation six months ahead of a conference to prove your are ready to present on stage like one major association requests. Or is better to have the practical obsession of what you do shine from your voice when presenting a topic you feel is important to relay to the audience. As a attendee, what are you thinking when the presenter is reading off note cards or looking away form you reading off slides? Shouldn't they know there own work? I realize there are exceptions, slides, graphs, charts, and results are excellent in providing visual highlights to your presentation. I want people talking about what they believe in, that sways me, whether I agree or not, I can appreciate the person's passion and commitment to his/her plan. In recent presentations I have found this to be very high on the personal satisfaction list and my response was extremely favorable. At the last clinic I presented, Mike Barwis of Michigan did exactly what Bo said and I was impressed!

Till next time, Have a great weekend

Joe Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

ABSORB, MODIFY, and APPLY

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:20:00 +0000

As I am in the mist of my clinic season, as are many of us, either speaking or attending I thought I would share some thoughts as an attendee and how I decipher and breakdown information. Attending clinics/conferences and visiting coaches/facilities direct are the best ways to enhance your knowledge, program, as well as building your network. There are several things I believe all attendees should think about when heading to professional development opportunities.

General Thoughts

The first thing I would like to bring up is reminding attendees that everyone has an opinion. Whether you agree with the speaker or not, he or she believes in what they are presenting or they wouldn't be presenting! Remember that, as one day it may be you up there. I reserve the right to be wrong, but I completely and whole heartedly believe in what I present. I may not "sell" you and I am not trying to, I am trying to stimulate thought. This field is ever evolving and with the amount of information being presented, I feel there is no perfect way to get it done. If there were, why does it seem every week has a new "trend" being sold. There are a lot of great programs out there and your program may be able to grab some of the finer points and help strengthen yours.

Second, this is a pet peeve of mine as I have gotten older. Here it is, try not to be the hot shot who wants to destroy the credibility of the speaker. As I am now considered a veteran in the field, I have more of an appreciation for those who spend the time developing a presentation to offer us. I would bet, that almost everyone who presents has someone who is"smarter" than they are in the audience. There is a time and a place for debate, and questioning or trying to dismantle a individual's presentation in front of the crowd is uncalled for.

Third, and I was guilty of this in my younger years. If you are not interested in the presentation, you are not required to show up. As an up and comer, it is probably a safe bet that you should attend as many of the sessions you can hit. Truth be told, it is more respectful not to attend a presentation compared to sitting in the back and holding a discussion with someone that has no relevance to the presentation. I was guilty as charged on this point, and didn't realize the disrespect I was giving the speaker until I became a speaker myself.

Breaking Down the Information

Absorb, Modify, Apply

The first time I saw the subtitle, ABSORB, MODIFY, APPLY it was well over 5 years ago as I was reading a review in T-MAG on a recent SWISS Seminar in Canada. These words rung music to my ears, as I had finally found away to breakdown the information I was gathering, and how to integrate in into my own programs philosophy without interfering with the integrity of it.

STEP 1 - ABSORB
Absorb - to take in and assimilate

The first process is to absorb the information. After attending a clinic most of us have several pages of notes and no clear vision or path as what to do with the information. Study your notes and assimilate the information that is relative to your program's needs. I recommend bullet pointing only 3-5 main points of a presentation. This will keep your thoughts specific to they key points as it relates to the possible assimilation into your methodology.

STEP 2 - MODIFY

Modify - make partial or minor changes to something, typically to improve it or make it less extreme

The second process is to modify your bullet points. Although the above definition states to improve it or make it less extreme, you are making necessary changes so that it has relevance in your program's identity. This is the step where you take the information and make it your own. This is an important process for the coach because you have to be able to communicate any new programming to your athletes. If you use another person's nomenclature [you like that Feit and Derm], generally they can see that you are not confident in what you are presenting and therefore why should they believe it will help improve their performance.

STEP 3 - APPLY

Apply - bring or put into practical use

The final process is applying the new material to your program. If you are a practical professional, most likely you and or your staff members will integrate the new findings into personal training sessions first. This will allow you to "feel" if the new ideas have the benefits you are hoping for. Another way is to get some former athletes to be your Guinea pigs. I prefer to use myself on most strength training ideas. If the results are what you were hoping for than you have given yourself another tool for your tool box. If your results were unsatisfactory, scrap it and move on.

I have come full circle on a lot of subjects in my 20 plus years as a performance specialist. People I may not have agreed with I do now and vice versa. I have come to have a complete appreciation for those who are willing to be innovative and thought provoking, whether I agree or disagree doesn't matter. It stimulates the thought process!

So there you have it. I hope this may be of some help when attending you next professional development experience. Also, you can use the ABSORB, MODIFY, APPLY approach to article reviews.

Congratulations to Hammer Strength Clinics, New Jersey. They had 140 plus attendees at this year's event held this weekend. Words Win!

Till Next Time,

Thanks for reading

Joe Kenn at Big House Power

HAMMER STRENGTH CLINIC CHICAGO

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:11:00 +0000

Clinic #3 of 6 for the Hammer Strength Clinic circuit was held at Glenbrook North High School. The host school's facilities were awesome as were the host coaches. They opened the weight room early for me and Coach Ciano to sneak a upper body special in before breakfast. The Hammer Strength point man for this clinic was Tim Moran, assisted by Rich Gray. Sponsors on site included, PLAE flooring, Connor Flooring, Intek Strength, and Gilman Gear. Breakfast was done by Panera Bread and lunch was by Jimmy John's.

This was the second year we have been to the Chicago area and the turn out was very favorable. Unlike Miami, which was a one day clinic, we started off with a Coaches Round Table Friday evening. I would guess that approximately 1/3 of Saturday's attendance showed up for this portion of the event. This was a 2 hour Q&A with 5 of the 6 speakers in attendance. Tim had requested coaches to send in their questions in advance and the clinic speakers interacted with the attendees in giving their opinions and perspectives any and all questions.

Mark Hill of Kentucky started the Saturday Session off with a excellent presentation entitled "Organizing Your Strength and Conditioning Program". I have known Mark for a long time and he is a 1st Class person and excellent coach. Mark had some excellent slides that showed the clinicians how to structure an holistic approach to training as well as breaking down the pieces of the puzzle into a weekly and monthly plan.

Mike Barwis of Michigan was up next speaking on his IN SEASON Training for the Wolverines. Mike is extremely popular with his players and there is no doubt why after watching him present. The passion and energy Mike displayed was impressive. He spoke from the Heart, no slides, no stutter, and great information. This is the first time I have heard Mike present and met him officially after his presentation. Mike said his background is in exercise physiology and medicine and related training to Wolff's Law of Bone Adaptation. Mike was pretty adamant about training for explosiveness by repeatedly making his point of "what the body does, the body will become".

I have been extremely fortunate to make some great relationships and friendships in my career. There is none I enjoy more then John Sisk of Vanderbilt. I just like being around this guy and talking shop. John spoke on Harvesting Strength for the Field. This is John's various implement training program. John likes getting his guys outside the weight room and is one of the top guys in college who use kettle bells in his program. John showed clips of Sand Bag Throws, Mace Bell movements, Sledgehammers, Indian Clubs, Prowler Push, Heavy Ropes, and Kettle Bells. You get the Picture.

I spoke after lunch on The Tier System. I haven't spoken on this topic in a while in the clinic setting and it was fun to get back to my roots. I primarily spoke on the main strong point of the system, which is the Order, Rotation, and Choice of Exercises that holds the integrity of the program together.

Eric Ciano formerly of Georgia Tech and now the Buffalo Bills was up next. Eric is one of the good guys in this profession. He was brought up through the John Stuckey programs of Tennessee and also worked with Tom Moffit of LSU. He is well versed in training and I will tell anyone who will listen that of all the schools I have visited, his team from top to bottom was the best technicians in the power clean that I have seen. After visiting there, I challenged myself to become a better teacher in that movement. I thank Eric for that! Eric gave a great overview of the GTECH program he was involved with and showed us some very good video of his summer conditioning program.

I am sorry to say that I missed Joe Tofferi of Detroit Mercy's presentation. I had a plane to catch. Joe was speaking on Prehabilitation. Joe was a part of the round table the night before.

There was an excellent crowd of over 100 attendees and I appreciate Hammer Strength for allowing my to be a small part of their yearly clinics. Hammer Strength heads to New Jersey next week, followed by San Antonio, then to San Jose where I will meet up with them for the final clinic of their season. I have been speaking at the Hammer Strength and Conditioning Clinics since 2002 and they always have a tremendous speaker list at every event. If they are ever in your local or regional area, I highly recommend you attend. They are definitely a WORDS WIN!

Till Next Week's Blog
Thanks for reading
Joe Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

HAMMER STRENGTH CLINIC MIAMI

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:33:00 +0000

This past weekend was week #2 of 6 Hammer Strength Clinics scheduled for this year at various cities across the US. The primary emphasis of these clinics are to present football models of strength and conditioning from a wide variety of sources. We were extremely fortunate to be in Miami this week on the campus of Florida International University [FIU]. Head Football Strength and Conditioning Coach Roderick Moore was a tremendous host and speaker. Hammer Strength's Kelly Neuhauser was the point man for this week's clinic.

FIU is a Certified Hammer Strength Facility with a very spacious and user friendly layout. I was fortunate to get two very good training sessions in while we were on campus. This was my first time being in an actual facility with the new in laid platform/rubber floor plans that some schools are utilizing to maximize space. Being slightly old school and having a preference to the old platform system, I may have been swayed by the aesthetics that the in laid flooring brings to a facility as well as extra space for movement work.

Although the actual turn out was relatively small for an event of this caliber, I believed the clinicians received some very solid information that could be taken back as applied to their specific training programs.

Jason Gallucci of Princeton started the day off and spoke about the Football Winter Program and more specifically, their competition point system. Everything is included in their point system from academics, training room, to lift records. The team is actually broken down into groups based on a draft process made by 6 captains. I was impressed with the amount of effort and time they put into making this a true draft event and even got some cool things out of it using power point! This is the second time I have spoke at the same clinic as Jason. I like the way they do things at Princeton!

Scott Sinclair of Central Florida was next and broke the total running program for the football program at CFU. Scott was very meticulous and well prepared and I was impressed with the amount of information he was able to get across in a one hour time block. Scott is a long time assistant of one of my good friends in this game Ed Ellis. I was proud of the way Scott represented their program.

Roderick Moore from the host school FIU was next and did a very enthusiastic job for breaking down the annual plan for the football program. Rod comes from the UT program that has put out some tremendous strength coaches. His presentation was well planned and presented. His Keys to Success were; Power Output, Triple Extension, and 100%Effort. One of the best lines of the presentation was when he spoke about nutrition. He recommends his players stay on the outside walls of the grocery store because that is where the best nutritional products are for fueling the body. The middle isle are reserved for processed foods. My only concern for that is usually the beer is on those outside isles also! We are dealing with college aged athletes you know.

Clinicians then had a lunch break. Breakfast and Lunch were catered in by Panera Bread. Excellent Choice. Plae Flooring, Intek Strength, and Werksan Barbell were the sponsors in attendance.

After Lunch Brian Van Vleet of The McCallie School spoke on the programming for the high school football player. Brian also was a former UT strength coach so his athletes are blessed to have someone with that experience working with them. He broke his program down from the middle school athletes through the seniors. They were very well coached on the video clips that were shown and there program is highly structured. What I Iiked was the point Coach made about in season lifting for freshman and junior varsity players. They trained on game days because there goal was to prepare them for VARSITY play.

I was next speaking on Block Zero TM which is my beginner program. Having a 12 year old and a 17 year old has truly brought to my attention how important starting "right" is when exposing youth to organized training. Our society when in comes to development wants to get to point B with out starting at Point A. We are doing our young athletes a disservice by not giving them ample time to develop general physical fitness traits. I will stop here before I go on a long tangent.

Our final speaker of the day was Andreu Swasey of the University of Miami. Coach Swasey gave us a general overview of how he prepares his athletes at THE "U". He constantly reinforced that technique over load was there primary emphasis when developing athletes. He also brought up that the head coaches he has worked with only worry about the production on Saturday and are not consumed with weight room numbers. He has been a fixture at THE "U" and has coached well over 4 dozen NFL players, so that was refreshing for these ears to hear.

On a side not my flight from Atlanta to Miami was horrendous. The weather was not good and boy did I feel it. Thank goodness I didn't need the "doggie bag", if you know what I mean.

Next week I am in Chicago for the Hammer Strength Clinic.

Joe Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

The Arnold Classic in one Word -- RiDONKulous

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:37:00 +0000

Saturday, March 6, 5:30 am. I awake to start my day. I floss, brush my chucks, and gargle. As I head to the kitchen, I throw some clothes in the dryer and make my pre/during work out shake. It's the typical for me, repping CYTOSPORT products, 1 scoop of fast twitch and 2 scoops of whey isolate, plus my morning serving of fish oil, flax seed oil etc. Head to my office for a 30 minute meditation and then off to the Lab for some Conventional Big Evil Deadlifts and Suspended Cambered Bar Goodmornings. Finish my work out, log it on the Tier System Fan Page on Facebook and off to the shower. I am on target to leave at my goal time of 9 am.

9:35, We set sail. I forgot to tell you, my wife was joining me. Since this was my first expereince going to the ARNOLD and hearing about all the vendors at the EXPO, I though this would be a great business opportunity to visit with people and look at products. Little did I know! It was a pleasant 3 hour drive to Columbus and we found a great place to park.

Approxixmately 1 pm, We pay for our bracelets, they are $10 each. I will say that is a bargain for all the events that are going on that this allows you to watch. It is right about now that I realize this place is RiDONKulous! I am not even talking about the characters who are working the booths or just walking around. I am talking about the amount of people who are jammed in this monstrous facility. Supposedly, there was close to 180,000 people at the expo on Saturday. I think they were all walking next to me and my wife. After about ten minutes of "banging" my wife had enough and she headed out and told me to enjoy myself. I know she enjoyed her day. She spent two hours in the hotel resturant relaxing and then headed downtown to see Alice in Wonderland 3D style! Needless to say, anything we thought we were going to accomplish business wise was through.

Now I am on my own, just the way it probably should have been. I head over to the Cytopsort both and chat with Jeff Brucker for a while. Plus, I had to get my hands on one of their Cookie Dough Batter flavor Muscle Milk shakes. Oh yeh, WORDS WIN baby! I head over to the EXPO Stage to watch some strongman. I totally forgot that a former intern of mine and WSM Runner Up Brian Shaw was competing. I got there in time to watch him do the single arm dumbbell press.

I am a big guy but, GIGANTOR makes me look an ant!. He is rolling in at 4 large and 6'8. I am rolling 290 and 6'2. As you can see I caught up with GIGANTOR between events. Right after this picture, he came in second in the deadlift, pulling 1021 pounds!

That was fun seeing a guy accomplish his goal and dream of being a professional strongman. I met Joe Hashey of Synergy Athletic at the strongman stage. Great guy, and I appreciate him heading over to see me. It probably took longer then he would say.

At 4 pm the real reason why I came, The GNC Pro Performance Deadlift was starting and as the strongman crowd left the area I got a first row seat. I have to thank Adrienne Blewitt, World Champion Highlands Game Competitor who trained at Arizona State while I was working there for the seats. Bryan Dermody now of the New York Jets was competing. Bryan and I worked together for 2 years at Louisville. He is one of the sharpest guys I have met and strongest too! Bryan's life has been a whirlwind the last several months and I was excited he continued to train and made the trip. He fought some adversity and life issues and no matter what he says, he did a fine job hitting his opener and positing a 727 pound deadlift. I know he was hoping for more but I was happy for him just the same.

Caught up with Carlo Alvarez of ST X, Feit, MK, Hammer, Hartman and Leo Totten. I also met Jake Anderson of Central College, excellent strength coach and he works for a solid guy in McNasty.

I am not sure if I will head back to the Arnold in the future unless I have a specific reason to go, it is not worth it to me. Now, I heard Thursday and Friday are slightly better in the EXPO and that is the experience I wanted, not for the free stuff but to get a look at some ideas for marketing. I will do almost anything once. I didn't even get to see ARNOLD!

Thanks for reading and the support

Joe Kenn at BIG HOUSE POWER

THE MEAT MARKET

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:39:00 +0000

I was fortunate to attend two and a half days of the The Meat Market or the National Invitational Camp or as most of us know it as, THE NFL's ANNUAL COMBINE. This is where, based on numerous scouts' evaluations, the best 300+ college football players from across the country come under one roof and display their body, mind, and spirit in front of nearly every NFL Coach, Scout, and Executive.

Everything imaginable takes place for these athletes. They are given a test to determine there decision making skills, they are over analyzed by medical staff from all 32 teams, they are paraded around in their compression shorts so the decision makers can get a good look at the body type they are getting ready to invest millions in. Then there is the what I call the decathlon of combine, the 6 events that supposedly determine if you are athletic enough to play in their league. This is followed by specific position work ran by NFL position coaches and then you are shipped out back to train for on campus Pro Days. This process usually takes each group 3 days. Hey, I didn't even mention the personal interviews an athlete may have to go to for specific teams.

Since I am a strength and conditioning coach, I hang out with my buddy who is, a strength and conditioning coach for an NFL team. I feel bad for the S/C coaches. Talk about a boring week. The majority of these guys responsibilities are to watch all the "weigh ins" and then sit there and watch every group perform the 225 bench test. Like they don't see enough of this on a year round basis.

I will just break down the one part of the combine that I think is hilarious, the part I call the MEAT MARKET. This is one of the first things the athlete does in front of a crowd. Each group has about 20-25 guys in it. There are usually 3 groups brought in each day. The groups start out behind a curtain, there are 3 sets of bleachers set up in a semi circle in front of a stage, the same stage they do the 225 bench press on if you watch the NFL Network. If you are facing the stage, the athlete comes out to the right side of the stage. First thing that is measured is his hand size/width. This is measured by having the athlete spread his fingers as wide as possible and measuring from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the pinky. The athlete then has his arm length measured, from his ac joint to the tip of his middle finger, these are both recorded.

Next Step, the athlete for what ever reason walks up about 5 steps very slowing to get their height recorded. Remember the only attire they have on our Under Armour compression shorts. Under Amour is the sponsor of the combine. The athlete has his back against a wall and he is looking into the crowd. At this time the athlete's name is spoken out loud through a pa system and his hand and arm measurements are read out loud. At this time everyone in the room heads go right down into their work books and right down the numbers given. They pop their heads back up and begin to examine the prospect making notes on his development. The height is yelled out to the crowd 6-0-1-7. Which means the athlete is 6 feet 1 and 7/8 of an inch. That's right to the eighth. The athlete then walks like he is a model on the cat walk in a semi circle in front of the stage to get weighed in. For the weigh in he is facing away from the crowd. Why? So they can get a good look at the backside of his body, more notes are taken down and the weight is yelled out in pounds. The athlete walks of the stage, where he head to one of several Bod Pod stations to get a body fat and lean mass measurement. The next athlete is called, and so on and so on and so on.

I find all the data recording semi funny because every person there will get a copy of all the results recorded over the week long combine. Obviously there are some personal notes you may want to take but, all the events are filmed. I could go on and on about what I have seen the last 3 years attending, like timing 40's. Maybe another time.

Thanks for following

Joe Kenn at Big House Power

WEEK END TRAVELS - If you will be at any of these events look us up!

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:36:00 +0000

The Next 4 weekends are extremely busy for the Big House Power Crew. The Hammer Strength Clinics start up this weekend February 26-27, in Atlanta. Adam Feit will be speaking at this one. Adam worked for me at Arizona State and Louisville. He is now running his own show at Eastern Michigan University, working with Head Football Coach, Ron English. They are working diligently to get the Eagles on that GET RIGHT!

I will be heading out tomorrow for the National Invitation Camp, which most of you know as the NFL Combine. I will there doing what I do best, networking! Also I have 6 former athletes who were invited to participate in the drill, Scott Long of Louisville, Dexter Davis, Travis Goethal, Shawn Lauvao, Chris McGaha, and Kyle Williams of Arizona State. Two other players I worked with during their freshman year at AState before transferring will be there also. JD Walton, Baylor got to catch up with JD at the Senior Bowl. JD was 1st team AP ALL AMERICAN. Max Hall, BYU quarterback is the second guy.

While there I will be visiting with and discussing training with the San Francisco 49er staff of Duane Carlisle and Mark Uyeyama as well as Evan Marcus of the Miami Dolphins.

Next Week - I head to my 1st visit to the ARNOLD CLASSIC and EXPO. I will be traveling with my family and good friend and upper body training partner, Chris Morgan on Saturday, March 6th. Former staff member and now NY Jet Assistant Strength Coach, Bryan Dermody will be participating in the: GNC Pro Performance IPF Deadlift Championship (4-6 p.m. Saturday, March 6 on Arnold EXPO Stage).

The following 2 weeks I speak at the Hammer Strength Clinics in Miami and Chicago respectively. Please make it a point to introduce yourself to me or Adam. In this day and age of internet correspondence, I always appreciate putting a real life body with the picture on facebook, twitter, etc, or a name on an email.

Hope to see you, Train Hard and Smart and sometimes I might train heavy :)
Joe Kenn
visit us at BIG HOUSE POWER

Tranquility, Mindfulness, Thank You and Congratulations

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:26:00 +0000

TRANQUILITY AND MINDFULNESS

First, I will start out with my day's road trip home from North Carolina. Unfortunately, my wife's mom was hospitalized while we were there, so my wife stayed behind to be with family. We packed up my wife's dog, Maggie, said our goodbyes and I headed down the road. A six hour and forty five minute ride covering 453 miles and one pit stop lied ahead.

As I have matured as a person over the last 12 months and have delved into some search for self, I have found that I like silence more and more. I am a much more relaxed person as I have begun daily meditation (I am pretty consistent) and have begun to adhere to the best of my abilities to follow the Noble 8 Fold Path of Buddhism. Being born and bred a New Yorker, some are harder than others to master. So for 453 miles I drove, no radio, no cell phone, just silence. OK, I won't lie, for some reason I broke out into Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville several times, don't ask me why. Although my studies tell me to that the present moment is the most important, it was an interesting journey of past, future and present. Especially in a time of transition for me and my family.

The night before I had just read Joe DeFranco's article where he said he had a three hour plane ride to look back and see his journey, I had double that. I will tell you this, in a day and age where you rarely get that type of time to "RELAX" quietly and really reflect on the journey of life, if you can get the time, take it, it is refreshing. I highly recommend just trying it for 5 minutes a day to start and see the difference in your day's perspective and your opinions on things. The ride was peaceful and comfortable and really didn't feel like 453 miles. I was refreshed when I came home and hit a work out before writing this.

THANK YOU

I regret I did not do this in last week's blog. I must thank the following individuals who were extremely gracious with their time and knowledge during last week's IYCA Summit in Louisville. Thanks to AJ Roberts, Jason Ferruggia, Brian Grasso, Chris Mohr, Mike Robertson, Pat Rigsby, and Carlo Alvarez and his wife Gabrielle. I don't think I missed anyone. Angie and I appreciate the knowledge and information you shared with us. Looking forward to working with Pat and Carlo on a project that I think will be awesome. He doesn't know it yet but, I am going to be blowing up Ferruggia, great guy with the information and knowledge I lack.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations go out to my former staff members at Louisville for their new roles in our field and to my life long friend who is in the hunt for his first Athletic Director's position.

Adam Feit - new position, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Eastern Michigan. Adam just started Thursday night and his quote to me yesterday was, "I worked a 17 hour day and I loved it. The kids and the staff responded great." I knew this would happen. Adam was well prepared and he loves what he does. Not only will my good friend and Head Football Coach at EMU, Ron English's team benefit from Adam's expertise, the whole athletic department will. That's WORDS WIN#1

Bryan Dermody - new position, Coaching Assistant, New York Jets. If you know anything about the NFL, you know it is hard to break in. As my great friend and former assistant Mark Uyeyama told me when he got his shot, "WHEN YOU GET TO THE LEAGUE, YOU NEVER LEAVE!" So Derm, NEVA NEVA LEAVE the League. If anybody deserved to be in the league it is Bryan Dermody. He is a football guy. His strengths are exactly what a NFL Strength Program needs. My good friend and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Jets, Sal Alosi, got himself a gem in Dermody. That's WORDS WIN #2

WORDS WIN #3 is the guy who put the WORDS WIN mantra on my Pac 10 Championship Ring, my Life Long friend TK. TK grew up around the block from me in INWOOD, played at the same high school as did our dads, the LAWRENCE GOLDEN TORNADOES, and then he chose to come and play college football with me at WAKE FOREST. Many years later, we teamed up again for three years at Arizona State and now my man is in the final two for an Athletic Director's position at a Division 1AA [I am old school it is 1AA not some sub division] College. He has his final on site interview in 3 weeks. It's GO TIME FOO, he needs to bring it from the sac, I NEED A JOB!!!!

When in doubt head over to BIG HOUSE POWER and check out the site.

Q&A Deck Clean versus Hang Clean

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:38:00 +0000

Aaron S., sent in a question in regards to using the deck clean versus the hang clean to develop power. Here is my take, I reserve the right to be wrong, and I know you can agree to disagree. For me, I will always use a term that a good friend of mine Daye Halling said about my thought process, "UNCOMMON" SENSE!!! Daye is a Pat O'Shea disciple. So that is a big compliment, as I like being uncommon.

The point that was brought up is that some people think the deck clean is made up of a strength lift, the deadlift, followed by a power lift, the hang clean. Isn't that a good thing as we need both strength and power! I will also say that we teach the deck clean from the ground up. We teach the deadlift 1st. Why? Because to become more "explosive" you must become "stronger". There is no better movement than the deadlift to accomplish this. Now I know what some are saying, the deadlift is a slow movement and is not a good exercise for athletes. Here is where I am slightly uncommon. I do not believe that the type of exercise implemented makes it an explosive versus non explosive movement. I believe any movement can be manipulated to be DYNAMIC in nature based on intent, time/tempo, and load. The heavier a movement the slower the movement the lighter the movement the faster the movement. Speed can be established by always teaching athletes, Maximum Concentric Acceleration. This means we move the bar as fast as possible during the concentric phase.

I have come full circle on the clean and it's variations. I started as a Hang Clean guy, moved to Power Pull from the Deck, to Deck Cleans in my programs. At this point in time I write most of my programs with all three movements involved in the microcycle. My thought process is to utilize both the deck clean and hang clean into my training program because I want two different intents. By manipulating load, We use the deck clean as a sub maximal/maximal effort movement and the hang clean as a dynamic movement. How do we do this, by manipulating loads. Generally speaking, depending on the level of the athlete, deck cleans will use a rep scheme of 1-6 at intensities between 60-100% and Hang Cleans 2-3 reps per set at intensities between 60-80%.

The deck clean serves the athlete by teaching them to generate force into the ground by pushing the feet through the ground (starting strength) to get the weight moving as well as developing hip strength and mobility. The hang clean serves the athlete in there ability to jump and extend their hips vigorously to simulate vertical jump mechanics. We actually complex hang cleans and vertical jumps with our Block 3 and 4 athletes. We use a drop and go technique (counter movement) for the hang clean.

Depending on the level of athletes we may implement block cleans into the program as a variation for our experienced lifter to change the start position to work on starting strength and a faster transition to the jump phase.

To wrap it up, I do know some movements are designed to be more explosive than others. The combination of intent, time/tempo, and load I believe has a greater effect on speed of movement. You can make a curl an explosive movement if you want! I recommend finding a way to implement both movements into your program if the technical proficiency of the movement is quality. That is a discussion for another day!

Good Luck and Stay Healthy and Strong

In Strength,

Coach Kenn

visit Big House Power

Q&A Breaking [In] and Entering - Getting into College Strength and Conditoning

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:58:00 +0000

Darius D. is completing his master's degree, and asks the question, How do I land a job in the field? This is a tough question to answer because many will beat around the bush. Darius is already behind the "eight ball". He is at the end of his graduate studies and is just now wanting to "BREAK IN". The truth is choosing a career as a college strength and conditioning coach lies more in your lineage or network than how much experience you may or may not have. Most individuals in this case believe because they have the classroom smarts and the degrees that they have credentials to be a "strength coach". How wrong you are! You need practical experience in the trenches and the right people in your corner to land you a job.

Your Lineage or Network usually starts by being a competitive collegiate athlete or beginning your coaching career as an unpaid undergraduate intern for your institution's athletic program. If your school's strength coach is a veteran with a respectable following, bonus for you! This starts the process of getting "quality" individuals in your corner, calling on your behalf and recommending you for your next position. Let's face it, as in many cases, who you know gets you in the door and what you know keeps you in the building. I will say this, in this era, if you are fortunate to work with a quality individual in the private sector (a former collegiate or professional coach) they most likely will have the network to help you break in also.

Your first job out of undergrad most likely will be a graduate assistant strength coach. This begins the long and tedious journey of climbing the ladder until you reach your ultimate destination; becoming the leader of your own program. Perseverance will be your ultimate challenge as many bow out and chose to go in a different direction. Don't get me wrong, being able to communicate, teach, and your academic background are extremely important. Those are traits we all want in our candidates. If your are crazy enough to jump in GOOD LUCK!

Coach Kenn's Top 10 Breaking [In] and Entering Tips

www.bighousepower.com

Q&A What are Dumbbell Elevators

noreply@blogger.com (Coach Kenn) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:37:00 +0000

The primary rationale for implementing Elevators is to attack various planes of movement in a single training session. Elevators will consist of a linear progression of either vertical to horizontal presses or horizontal to vertical presses. I recommend Elevator Progressions using dumbbells. I have used them with barbells, but it is more efficient to use dumbbells. The set up is harder with a barbell because of the rack height adjustments.

Elevator Progressions are simply changing the angle of your adjustable bench each set of the prescribed work out. You can choose to go from 0 degrees, Flat Bench Press to 90 degrees, Seated Shoulder Press or vice versa. Depending on the volume you are looking for you can chose a three to five set elevator (the 5 set approach is displayed on video). The Basic Elevator would be the 3 set choice which includes the Flat Bench Press, The 45 degree Incline Press, and the 90 degree Seated Shoulder Press. You can add in a Low or Steep Incline Press for a 4 set model or both for the 5 set model.

Good Luck and please visit our home site http://www.bighousepower.com

For complete Dumbbell Elevator Progression article with sample programs click here

A never-ending battle...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Feit) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:19:00 +0000

As we near the end the season, I cannot help but reflect on all the “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve but didn’t” attitudes some of our players exhibited, specifically with their nutrition. Kids continually complain about not keeping weight on or not being able to lose weight, but when you ask them about their basic principles of good nutrition (which we ALWAYS talk about in our program), they still look at you with that dumbfounded look on their face. After browsing through some of the archived articles on elitefts.com, I came across one by Julia Ladewski titled “Things I’ve Learned” which explains my situation very bluntly, but correctly.

First, you’ve got your “weight loss” athletes. These are the athletes that have a higher than normal body fat for their position and the position coach wants to see them 10-20 lbs lighter. These are the athletes that complain about not being able to lose weight, no matter what they do. They’ll come in for extra conditioning only to drink the shake I tell them to (lower in calories) and stuff the weight-gain shakes in their bag when I’m away from the office. They’re also the same athletes that eat until they cannot get off the couch, drink nothing but Gatorade all day or become the first ones to buy tickets for the $10 open-bar for the weekend. It’s amazing how much body-fat athletes can lose when they make small changes throughout their day. Replacing the Gatorade with water; doubling the vegetables instead of extra rolls at dinner and actually eating breakfast can do wonders for body composition. But, yet, everyone says they don’t have time…

Then you’ve got the athletes that always ask how they can gain weight. They’re the ones who order everything on the dollar menu but only eat once or twice a day. Anytime one of them comes up to me, it’s become almost an instant reaction to ask “When was the last time you ate?” Most of the time, it’s something they grabbed last night at the drive-thru or a shake they threw in backpack and drank over 6-8 hours ago. When I ask them what they eat during the day, it’s almost the same answer, “A shake after the work-out, a shake before practice, and whatever is at training table, if I can make it…” WHAT? If you can make it? It’s a FREE scholarship meal (loaded with a salad/fruit bar, buffet line and dessert section) after practice and you’re telling me, if you make it? These are also the same athletes who complain that the FREE bagels and fruit are gross and the FREE and UNLIMITED shakes are an inconvenience to grab. This is where my Division III “pay-for-everything” experience gets the best of me…

As Coach Ladewski clearly stated in her article, if athletes REALLY wanted to lose fat, gain muscle and get in the best shape for their sport, they would take the time to do the little things right. Sacrifice is giving up something one wants for something one wants more. If athletes really want to make a change in their body composition, they will make better choices at the drive-thru, include better preparation strategies throughout the day and make better decisions out with friends.

And this is my job. To research, educate and integrate practical nutrition strategies for the collegiate athlete…and it’s a never-ending battle.