NSCA’s Coaching Podcast

Hear from Cristi Bartlett, Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Olympic Strength and Conditioning at North Carolina State University, about her path through the professional ranks from student to department head. Bartlett talks to NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about making moves in the field, seeking opportunities for growth, the current state of strength and conditioning coach salaries, and other areas that can be improved in the profession. Connect with Cristi on Instagram: @bartlettc42| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“But it's something that if you can see continual progress, that is a pretty good self-check for you that you're doing some things well and making good decisions. And it's not all about salary, sometimes it is about just that quality experience. And in giving up salary for a period of time to get that.” 18:06 “If you never have a seat at the table nobody's going to know what strength coaches do for the program. And so now you get to give some input or some insight as to how we play a role in the department holistically. I think that's important because if you want the industry to grow, you have to have somebody in that seat as a strength and conditioning coach.” 19:50 “Just the overall development of the athlete, the physical piece is one thing. However, I think the mental piece is even bigger. They see that they can push to do what they're actually capable of.” 23:46 “I think it's super important that you actually have some practical experience from applied experience for your own personal stuff too. You cannot tell an athlete to do something that you've never done. I mean as an athlete, I wouldn't respect you at all if you told me to squat and you haven't lifted a bar.” 26:48

Listen in as Angelo Gingerelli, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coordinator at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, tells the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about his journey in the strength and conditioning profession. Topics include working collaboratively as a strength and conditioning staff, positive social media practices, taking on additional staff responsibilities as an adjunct professor, and working with endurance athletes.   You can reach out to Coach Gingerelli on Instagram: @finish_strong_book| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“I think so much our profession is based on getting an internship and making some connections, but I don't think we spend enough time teaching young coaches you have to nurture those connections. Like going up introducing somebody at a conference, that's a great thing, but what do you do next? Is there a follow-up email? What are you doing when that internship is over?” 6:41 “But I think the lesson for young coaches out there is, we argue a lot, the value of a master's degree. You have to have it, but we view it more as kind of checking a box on a resume than getting a lot from it a lot of time in the coaching profession. And I can tell you straight up and down having that master's in health promotion and MEd in education led to me teaching my first class. I was the only person that could do it, and it's led to tens of thousands of dollars in revenue over the last decade by being able to teach these classes and adjuncts.” 29:42 “So I tell young coaches, get as much experience as you can, intern under as many people as you can, read everything you can, and then start to develop your coaching philosophy or principles around that.” 35:04 “I would say the biggest thing I did as my development as a strength and conditioning coach that changed the game for me, in 2011, I ran a marathon.” 36:08

Hear from Bri Kanz, Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Performance for Santa Clara University. Kanz connects with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, on key stops along her professional path, including her most recent position at Stanford University. Learn how injury inspired Kanz to pursue strength and conditioning, about her move to the West Coast, and her enthusiasm for Olympic sport strength and conditioning. Kanz shares her insight on what it takes to be an effective strength and conditioning coach and where she sees the field going in the future.   Connect with Bri on Instagram: @brikanz| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“And that's kind of where I started my coaching career at. And just from there, I just fell in love with it. I love the transformation process. I loved watching athletes grow. I loved being able to have an impact on the next generation. And that's kind of where I started my journey.” 3:20 “The biggest challenges that I faced, honestly, was knowing when to end the chapter and start a new one. I think saying goodbye to the athletes and the relationships that you've built along the way is always a challenge. And it's always hard to make that decision.” 8:40 “First and foremost, you have to be able to work well with others. If you're not able to work well with others and create your own team, then you're not going to be successful period.” 13:14 “If you don't have a reason why you want to be in this field, then you're not going to get very far. So just always knowing your why. And whenever you're having a hard day, just coming back to it and knowing that it's for a bigger purpose other than yourself.” 27:21

Hear from 2022 NSCA Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year, Dan Dalrymple. Dalrymple shares insight, advice, and comparisons on working with players at the college and professional levels. He also mentions his special career connection with 2022 NSCA College Strength and Conditioning Coach, Liane Blyn. Tune in as Dalrymple talks to NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about professional development for coaches, and how the NSCA played a valuable role throughout his career development.  Connect with Dan on Instagram: @dan_dalrymple | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“I always liken it to like NASCAR where the assistant coaches, and strength conditioning coaches, and everyone else is kind of the pit crew. And we're keeping the product on the road. And so that's a different mentality of realizing that it's not all about you as a coach. And it's all about the athlete.” 13:05 “The beauty of being a strength coach is a lot of times the player will come down and come in and sit in my office and vent. Right? And you want them to have that ability. But you also don't want to be a sounding board for them to just complain about their coach, or complain about their contract, or complain about all these different things.” 24:40 “I also think it's important for young coaches, and I try to express this to my staff and to anyone I talk to, understand the history of your profession, and become an expert in that. And see who the giants are that we're all standing on their shoulders.” 28:38 “The best thing for me for football was starting to work with ice hockey because I never played competitive ice hockey. I had to learn the sport, and learn how to evaluate it, and learn what they're doing. And then I took that coach's eye and approached it with football, and it made my programming for football a lot better. So those kind of opportunities are just so valuable.” 32:23

In this episode, we hear from 40-year veteran strength and conditioning coach, Rock Gullickson. Rock shares his path from collegiate strength and conditioning to the National Football League (NFL), including how weight room conversations have changed over the years as well as his thoughts on growth in the field today. Listen in to hear Rock connect with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, on lessons and insights for an impactful coaching career. Connect with Rock via email at Rock-Ter79@hotmail.com| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“I always liked the idea that you tell the guys, hey, we're going to help you get stronger. We are going to take you to levels that you haven't been before. We are going to push you. We are going to ask you to do things with a lot of energy and you need to bring that each day. And that you also have to have a willingness to work with us on your technique. And we'll film you. We'll watch you. We'll be right beside you. We'll motivate you. We'll encourage you.” 22:37 “More than ever, it's developing a relationship and an understanding and a trust that I'm taking it down this path. Because I want you to be bigger, faster, and stronger. I want you to be more healthy on the football field. I want you to be more explosive. I want you to run better.” 26:49 “For the young aspiring strength coach, I tell them that there's three things that go into your success. And number one is that you work hard at what you're doing and that people recognize that in you.” 38:24 “It's the it's the life lessons that you teach these young people. Because there's things that you have seen and done that, you should share it with these young people so that you teach them about life. And you teach them about their responsibilities and help them with their goals. But that's where the happiness comes.” 43:00

Take a deep dive into force plate research and trends with “Force Plate Coach”,  Dr. John McMahon from the University of Salford in England. In this episode, John discusses his path from Royal Marine Commando into strength and conditioning and biomechanics teaching and research. Listen in as John connects with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, on the past, present, and future of force plates in sport and the ways we can improve our testing and evaluation of athletes.   This episode mentions the following paper from NSCA’s Strength and Conditioning Journal:  McMahon, JJ, Suchomel, TJ; Lake, JP, and Comfort, P. Understanding the Key Phases of the Countermovement Jump Force-Time Curve, Strength and Conditioning Journal 40(4):  96-106, 2018     Find John on Instagram: @forceplatecoach, on Twitter: @ForcePlateCoach, and on YouTube: @ForcePlateCoach| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“Some more of your fast stretch shortening cycle tests, like the drop jump and the multi-rebound jumps, as well as the countermovement jump test, just to try and map the way in which practitioners would like to use their force plates with their athletes to get more of a holistic overview of what their neuromuscular status is at any given time.” 13:55 “So those two mechanisms were raised as red flag flags and in the effect sizes they were considered moderate to large changes in countermovement depth and body weight that we saw immediately post-match. Now, if we didn't have a force plate, we wouldn't know that those changes had occurred, or we would say is that the jump height was the same post-match.” 22:21 “And because we tend to use jump height as the key outcome variable that was displayed on the screen in the scoreboards. Those athletes will see that there's no improvement to their previous period. But if they're 5 kilos heavier that means that they've applied a greater impulse in total to their body center of mass.” 24:50 “I assessed the PhD student earlier this year that's effectively been involved in the British Army, saw a different regimen that they now use the isometric mid-thigh pull to inform the job roles that they can apply for when they commence their training, believe it or not. So they've got certain key performance indicators like, in terms of peak force relative to body mass, that people must be able to pull, or push I should say.” 49:41

This episode recaps one of the sessions from the 2022 NSCA Coaches Conference in San Antonio, TX. Head Coach and Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Performance at the University of Texas, Donnie Maib, discusses “the Golden Connection” as it relates to working with rotational athletes. Tune in as Coach Maib shares stories with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, on lessons learned from a 27-year collegiate strength and conditioning career, including paths for aspiring coaching, being a good father and husband, and areas of the field he sees on the near horizon.     Find Donnie on Instagram: @donniemaib and on Twitter: @coachdonnie | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“For the Coaches Conference, the title of my talk is The Golden Connection, and over the years of just working with overhead athletes there. I have just found there's this connection between the shoulder and the hip.” 8:12 “I think that takes a lot of listening, really listening. Then being able to ask the right questions with that coach. Then if you are put on the spot, how do you how do you respond in a way that's not knee jerk or defensive? Where you can actually walk out of that room and actually have won their trust over versus erode that trust.” 14:59 “You need to find somebody who's got the core value that values you have, because if you're a better dad or better mom, you're a better coach. You are more compassionate. You are more understanding. You are more patient. If you can lead home really well, you can lead at work really well.” 19:24 “We need more strength coaches in administrative leadership roles in big organizations.” 27:35 “It's been more evolutionary, not revolutionary. So small changes over time, educating, being patient, understanding, giving a little bit more at the first, and then just being patient with the process, the frustration of that. So it does pay off. It does make a difference. And you're just, ultimately, you just want that 1% advantage over your competition. So that's what you've got to do to get there, but that's how it's changed us big time, just quantifying practice loads. It's been huge.” 31:44

David Joyce, a performance director and co-editor of High-Performance Training for Sports, teams up with Daniel Lewindon, head of performance science for British tennis, to discuss their groundbreaking book. They explore the need for collaboration among sports professionals to enhance training environments. Joyce and Lewindon introduce the concept of 'Zombie Killers' as a playful yet practical approach to coaching. The duo emphasizes the importance of integrating technical skills with soft skills to truly impact athletes, reshaping modern coaching practices in the process.

Learn about pursuing strength and conditioning roles from father and son, Joe Kenn and Peter Kenn. Joe “Big House” Kenn brings perspectives on program leadership from over 35 years in the strength and conditioning profession. Joe’s son Peter, a recent graduate in the field and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at United States Military Academy West Point, shares his story of learning the profession from a young age with his dad coaching in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Football League (NFL). Tune in to hear dinner table conversation, as Joe and Peter connect with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, in an episode that bridges coaching generations.   Find Joe on Instagram: @bighousepower or Twitter: @bighousepower | Find Peter on Instagram: @peterkenn1 or Twitter: @peterkenn1 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“If you don't start that process until you've already graduated from undergrad, well, yeah, you're probably going to be working for free until you're 24, 25, 26. If this is what you want to do, you have to get in early. And you have to get in often.” 16:50 “But I always said, want to do it your way? Go run your own program. You think you got what it takes? Go get a job. Run your own program. And then you can dictate the demands of what you think are right and wrong.” 33:08 “If we're going to run internship programs as coaches, well, if we have a job open up, we better at least be considering one of the guys that was just in our program. Because, if you're not considering one of your own interns, you probably don't have a very good program.” 36:55 “I think the communication style that you choose as a strength coach is probably going to be a culmination of all the different coaches you've heard speak. And you've pick and chose which dynamic is the best and which best matches your personality and what you're comfortable with moving forward.” 53:56 “But I would urge any new coach coming up to be around as many different coaches as you can possibly be, both in their office time and coaching time, to understand how they deal with certain situations and figure out where their voice needs to be. And if you don't have a voice, I'm not saying you can't be in this profession. But you better find one quick. Because it's going to be tough.” 55:13 “Go to practice. Meet the athlete where they're at. A lot of times, they're, oh, you just worry about us doing weights. You don't come-- the showing up at practice will do more for your weight program than how good a coach you are and how well you write a program.” 56:33

Mike Snowden, University of Alabama Men’s Basketball Strength Coach, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about having a genuine relationship with head sport coaches. Topics under discussion include building players into the program, creating buy-in, and embracing new and unique career opportunities. Find Mike on Instagram: @mike__snowden or Twitter: @Mike__Snowden | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“I think a lot of single leg work is huge for those guys. And we spend a lot of time-- iso holds, different split squat variations. I think they look better, perform a little bit better, doing those, and gain a little more confidence doing those.” 14:45 “One of those things that I constantly harp on young coaches is be yourself. Don't feel like you need to be your favorite strength coach on Twitter, or Instagram. You know saying be yourself, coach within that, and do what's best for the student athletes that you get to work with.” 21:02 “Don't say no to an opportunity. Because you never know what that may turn into down the road, or how you meet somebody there that may help you out down the road or whatever.” 23:01 “I think the sports science route is also going to open a lot of opportunities, both in college and in the private setting, as far as having kind of like you look at it now, where you have those AT's with CSCS as almost like dual purpose roles.” 26:43