Thank you @CoachLeppke for my second offer to play college football at McPherson College! @MACBulldogsFB @TysonWirtz @CoachLoweIA @bjergens32

Coaches without people skills will underachieve. Without relationships, nothing matters. trackfootballconsortium.com/…

🇺🇸JA'KOBE THARP RUNS WIND LEGAL 12.75 110mH WORLD RECORD! 🔥

The standard starts in the weight room 😤

Let me sum up the “debate” I had at the “Sport Movement Skill Conference”. The attack: 1. Straight line speed has no direct correlation to any sport other than track. 2. Speed is NOT “the tide that lifts all boats”. 3. The fastest guys from the NFL Combine are not good players. Jerry Rice was slow (4.71). 4. It’s dumb to work on “just” speed. Their beliefs: 1. Movement skills must be developed “in context”. 2. Drawing heavily from “ecological dynamics and skill-acquisition theory”, athletes should learn to solve movement problems under changing conditions. Rather than chasing one “perfect” sprint model, athletes should be capable of producing effective movement solutions in many environments. 3. Athletes need variability (“noise”) in training because sport is unpredictable. Athletes become faster and more resilient when exposed to changing constraints and decision-making demands. My response: 1. Speed is the tide that lifts all boats. 2. The 3 requirements to play in the NFL at all positions: size, speed, skills. There are minimum requirements for size and speed. Size can’t be coached. Speed can be. 3. Faster teams are healthier teams. Athletes who get faster are more resilient. Sprint-based football teams are almost bulletproof. 4. In a Feed the Cats program, we don’t “just train speed”. We spend less than 30 seconds a week at max velocity (most important 30 seconds of our week). ⚡️ 5. “80% of NCAA 🏈 players never reach their genetic ceiling of speed.” ~Boo Schexnayder (Too much emphasis on weight room, conditioning, and sport-specific movement… in the absence of consistently training max velocity in low doses.) 5. Let the sport train the sport. Away from the sport, improve KPIs. Don’t “just” reverse-engineer the sport. 6. The debate is silly. Athletes need to PRIORITIZE speed. Prioritize does not mean “at the exclusion of everything else”. Speed is the priority, not the majority. NO ONE SAYS SPEED IS ALL YOU NEED TO PLAY IN THE NFL. Every NFL player who gets SLOWER seems older and is getting closer to the end of their career. Every NFL player who gets FASTER seems younger and is extending his career. 💰 Mic drop ⤵️ Athletes need to sprint, lift, jump, bounce, and throw. Athletes ALSO need to be taught sport-specific movements and skills. It’s not one or the other.

Interesting conversation. I would have liked to hear all the competing opinions about this topic. My 2 cents. both arguments have merit. My experience may be unique to most. My formula for success has been rather simple: Find the 1 THING to prioritize above all others. The 1 thing to go all in on and NEVER sacrifice. For me that was SPEED. In my relentless pursuit and obsession with running fast, EVERYTHING got better as a byproduct. For me it was the “tide that lifted all boats” (and did so very well) I spent very little time working drills and spent 85% of my time learning this in the weight room - yet (my film proves) I became an elite mover on the field in all areas.. We prioritized training the Central Nervous System AND Force Absorption and Position above all. Speed, whether physical or processing, is the great separator in all sports. ALL governed by the central nervous system… The goal of training should be to strengthen the SIGNAL between the brain/muscles to be more powerful and efficient. However, it can also be true, that the best rarely operate at max speed in a game, but their efficiency of movement, body control and Instinct/IQ allow them to play the game faster than everyone else - Also a byproduct of a highly tuned CNS. Most weight programs I see do not understand how to do this and are just a collection of exercises. For anyone other than professionals who have the time and resources, especially young athletes, there simply isn’t enough time to master it all. So going all in on SPEED wins.

Coach Scott Caulfield made two great points: 1️⃣ Develop young coaches by exposing them to meetings with ADs, sport coaches, and administrators—not just weight room responsibilities. 2️⃣ A military-style workout weekend doesn't create mental toughness. Culture is built through standards and accountability reinforced every day. What's interesting is Coach Rusty Whitt (10th Special Forces Group veteran, Combat Infantryman's Badge recipient) has said similar things on the CMW: toughness is built through a system, not a single event. When coaches with real military experience and decades of leadership experience agree on this, it's worth paying attention. Click below for the full episode with Coach Caulfield: youtube.com/watch?v=8Lpsz1gZ…

After a great camp sunday and a great conversation with @Coach_Dickinson today I’m excited to receive my first offer to play football at Buena Vista University! @BVU_Football @CoachEHubbard @TysonWirtz @bjergens32 @CoachLoweIA

You can get a Max Effort stimulus daily if you run the Brief Maximal Tension Wave System. You can strain your way to consistent and predictable PRs week after week year round. You can also pair this with your Sprint and Jump work for a truly potent Performance System.

One of the weakest things we can do as adults is stop holding kids accountable because they’re talented at a sport. The standard you hold for others is usually a reflection of the standard you hold for yourself.