Correcting Young Athletes Technique With young athletes who exhibit poor technical quality on a particular exercise or group of exercises, the best method of offering correction is often to become less dogmatic or predictable in your teaching method. When teaching the squat for example, most Trainers and Coaches tend to take a ‘top down’ approach to skill execution They teach the young athlete to set their feet and proceed through an eccentric-concentric progression. The nuances as to why a squat may be faulty are many, but very often, it is the inability of the young athlete.. More »
The Speed Training Secret
Speed Training Coaching I received this great question from a reader earlier this week: "Hi Brian. When training young athletes 8 – 12, what are the most important concepts of speed and acceleration to teach or stress?" The answer, my friends, is none of them… … Well not really, anyways. If I were to look solely at speed training and acceleration development with pre-adolescent athletes, my suggestion would be strength. Strength is an often forgotten variable in the speed and power equation and quite a critical component to the matrix of developing young athletes. But.. More »
How is 2009 Really Going to Look?
To be blunt and to the point, 2009 is going to look exactly like you want it to. The smash hit movie ‘The Secret’ brought into mainstream culture the notion that what we think about consistently is what we’re going to get. And while many people worldwide embraced both the movie and the message, the concept is far from new, innovative or groundbreaking. My Dad is the most optimistic and happy man on the planet. Always upbeat, constantly singing and eternally grateful for the smallest things in his life. He taught me from as far.. More »
Memories With Young Athletes
[wpfblike] This is the first Christmas that I won’t be able to be with my family. 34 Holidays, every one of them spent with my Mom, Dad and two brothers. I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t sad. Since moving to the United States in 2000, I’ve only managed to see my family on average twice per year. This year, I haven’t seen them at all. It’s very easy to get tunnel vision with work. We want so badly to succeed, that we can easily fall into the game of.. More »
My Holiday Wish for You
I absolutely adore the kid. In fairness, I adore every young athlete I’ve ever trained, though. I’m one of ‘those’ Coaches. Gave everything I had to each and every one of the young athletes I had the privilege of working with. No matter how talented or committed, I consider it an honor to touch the lives of young people and help mold them as both athletes and people. But over the years, admittedly, some of them stood out. Austin was one of them. A personality, disposition and smile that lit up a room… More »
IYCA Summit: My Own Personal Top 2
[wpfblike] ** If you’ve already registered to attend the IYCA International Summit in February than I need you to leave a comment on this blog. Read below to find out why ** Of course I’m going to the IYCA International Summit in February. But let me tell you something… … Even if I wasn’t the Founder of this organization, I’d STILL be going. And here’s why: Reason #1 – Two words: Pat Rigsby. This guy is for real. At the beginning of the year, Pat came on board as.. More »
Training Young Athletes: The Biggest Mistake You’re Making
[wpfblike] Training Young Athletes Successfully I’ll be blunt, brief and to the point with this email. You’re making a big mistake when training young athletes. And it’s the same mistake virtually every single Coach and Trainer makes. It’s got nothing to do with speed, agility, flexibility or strength. It has nothing to do with sets, reps or program design. It’s got to do with assessment and training session length. And I don’t mean the kind of assessment where you take your young athletes through a specific battery of tests in order to.. More »
A Life Altering Day
Well I’m not going to lie and tell you that I had any sort of near death experience. I mean, I just cracked my head in a freak accident. Granted, It’s a 2 inch gash on my forehead that went very deep and required stitches to close, but I tend to thank my blessings more than I wallow in self-pity. What struck me about this experience though, is the 5 hours I spent in emergency two nights ago. For 5 hours, I sat and watched people come and go. Come in with some sort of horrible.. More »
IYCA International Summit: This Is Your Last Chance…
This is it. The last day for you to register for the IYCA International Summit and receive an unbelievable f.r.e.e. bonus. The first annual IYCA International Summit is set for February 20 – 22 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky. The line up of speakers is world-class. The information will be priceless. The missed opportunities if you don’t attend, extraordinary. I’ve given you every reason to come. I’ve outlined each and every reason why attendance is absolutely mandatory if you are serious about your career. I suppose the final kicker is simply this: .. More »
Children’s Fitness Summit: Your Concerns Answered…
[wpfblike] Children’s fitness Success From The IYCA So the IYCA International Summit is in February. People from all over the world have already registered. But there are still some spots open. I decided to look through our Customer Service email database today in order to find out what our Members are asking about with respect to the Summit. Here are the Top 2 questions our Customer Service department is being asked: 1) We’re living in a slow economy and this is the Holidays. How can I justify spending the money on registration… Not.. More »
Networking and Youth Fitness Business Success
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness Business Success In 2005 I met Bob Piane of Vortex at a conference. Early in 2009, Vortex will be releasing a new line of fitness equipment for kids based on a blueprint I designed. In 2006, Chris Poirier of Perform Better heard me speak at a conference. 2009 will mark my third year as a Special Guest Presenter on the highly acclaimed Perform Better Series. In 2007, Geralyn Coopersmith of Equinox met me at a conference. In 2009, Equinox and the IYCA will be forming on a multi-region, nationwide partnership.. More »
The IYCA International Summit is Now Open!
The moment has arrived. What a rush for me to be able to offer this to you. A ‘change your life and your career’ announcement that, quite frankly, is also going to change my life, too. The IYCA International Summit The culmination of more than 6 years of hard work and sacrifice. An event that is going to alter the lives of all those in attendance. ‘Done for you’ business strategies that are guaranteed to increase your revenue the very second you start to implement them. Never-before-released secret training methods that will enhance.. More »
The Young Athlete That Changed My life
[wpfblike] Young Athlete Success Story "Brian completely changed the way I approached training and eating. But even more than that, Brian completely changed my life" It’s easy to get causal to comments like this isn’t it? If you’ve had the kind of career I’ve been blessed to have, you hear and read comments like that all the time. This one in particular was written by Kim McCullough. A standout young hockey player who I had the honor of training 10 years ago when she was just a teenager. Now in her mid-20’s, Kim.. More »
Youth Obesity Solution: A Success BluePrint For You
[wpfblike] Do You want to be part of the Youth Obesity Solution? "I’ve grabbed my copy of Youth Obesity Solution and I hope everyone on your list does too. No Fitness Professional bent on improving the health of their community can ignore the dire plight of the children around them." I received that email from King Hoover roughly 10 minutes after sending out my announcement about releasing Youth Obesity Solution yesterday morning. 10 minutes. He read my newsletter, made the purchase and wrote me that email. In 10 minutes. Now, let me paint.. More »
Youth Fitness: It’s Time to Change the World
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness and the Obesity Battle I’ve done this once before. And I’ll never forget it. It was a very cold and quiet winter night. To be entirely honest, it was more like 2am. I was sitting at the desk in my home office and Sara was sitting at hers. Sara, if you didn’t already know, was a co-founder with me of the International Youth Conditioning Association. It was late, we were exhausted, but mostly… … We were scared to death. Together, we were editing the newly written IYCA.. More »
The Childhood Obesity Crisis Ends on Monday…
[wpfblike] Something extraordinary is taking place on Monday. And your name is written all over it. One of the greatest problems in society today is going to start meeting its match. Childhood Obesity And you will be on the front lines of that confrontation. You know me as the ‘youth sports’ guy. Trained thousands of young athletes all over the world. But most don’t realize that in my 13 year career, I’ve also worked with thousands of overweight and obese kids, as well. In fact, some of my careers’ fondest.. More »
Youth Training Business Message From Tampa
[wpfblike] Youth Training Education Is a Must Hey, So here I am in Tampa, Florida. A special guest of Pat Rigsby and Nick Berry for their Ultimate Business Solutions master mind meeting. The weather’s nice and I’m certainly happy not to be in my winter-filled home of Chicago right now. But the past couple of days have been a lot more than a nice break from the cold weather. In fact, it’s been as big an eye opening experience as I’ve had in a long time. And here’s why… I’ve listened.. More »
The Truth About Kids Fitness Program Design
[wpfblike] Okay, so I admit to being overwhelmed. When I sent yesterday’s email out asking for people to offer their thoughts on the matter of Kids Fitness Program and ‘training kids under twelve’, I wasn’t expecting such a huge outpouring of passionate responses. My blog is loaded with comments. I received no fewer than 20 emails on the topic. I even had 4 people call me to tell me what they thought. The IYCA certainly is comprised of some passionate people… … And I love that! And now that we’ve established.. More »
Your Opinion on Children’s Fitness, Please…
[wpfblike] Children’s Fitness… What Age? I received a very interesting email yesterday regarding children’s fitness. Dan Coyle, a freelance author who writes for the New York Times among other publications, recently finished a new book he’d been writing. He emailed to ask if I would read the manuscript and give him feedback. I was honored to even be asked and of course said yes. The book itself – and of course I can’t mention any details since it won’t published until 2009 – has to do with children’s fitness and being exposed to various.. More »
Insights Into Training Young Athletes
[wpfblike] Young Athletes In Sports Sometimes, it feels good to be validated that you’re right. And that’s what happened to me yesterday. I conducted an interview with a Youth Sports Psychologist named Dr. Darrell Burnett for a project I’ve been working on. Darrell and I first met on a DVD shoot back in 2003. We were both asked to appear as ‘experts’ in a information documentary based on youth sports called ‘Operation TLC’. I was unbelievably impressed with Darrell’s stunning insight into human emotion, behavior and consequence as well as the role self-esteem.. More »