The Strength Game

Aaron Wood is the Director of Strength & Conditioning at Belhaven University where he oversees all 15 teams. Prior to arriving at Belhaven in 2019, Wood served as a strength coach at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX for a season overseeing both the football and baseball programs. He spent time working with both ice hockey programs at the University of Minnesota following three years in the private sector at Elkin Sports Performance in Richmond, VA working with athletes of all levels from high school to professional. Aaron got his start coaching at his alma mater, Liberty University, as an intern coach in 2014. Wood has competed in push-pull competitions and continues to stay deeply invested in his own training through powerlifting, triphasic, and conjugate styles all to find the best approach to impact the student-athletes he works with. Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Justin Blatnik is the Head Strength Coach and Owner of the Strength Empire Gym in Indian Trail, NC as well as Firefighter for the Charlotte Fire Department. Prior to opening Strength Empire in 2017, Blatnik was a self-employed strength coach and personal trainer, working with clients out of his garage since 2015. In addition to coaching at his own training facility, he’s worked as a personal trainer at Appalachian State Universities Rec facility and a commercial gym as well as been an intern at both Marvin Ridge High School and with the Carolina Panthers. Blatnik is the definition of a strength sport enthusiast. After playing football for a season at Saint Vincent College he began focusing his efforts competing in Powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, and Highland Games. He has also tried his hand competing in MAS Wrestling, grip strength, and Highlander competitions. Blatnik continues to compete nationally in Highland Games all while being an active duty firefighter and has placed as high as 4th and 3rd place as a lightweight competitor at Nationals and Worlds, respectively. Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Chris Norman is the Head Coach of Training and Chief Operating Officer of Capital SUP in Annapolis, MD where he has been in those roles since 2014. In addition to his position at Capital SUP, Norman is a physical education teacher at St. Mary’s elementary school. He has also spent time in the private sector, high school level, as well as college setting prior to working in the youth school system. Most recently he served as the assistant JV coach at Broadneck High School for the men’s lacrosse team for two season and was a performance coach and team training specialist at the Under Armour Performance Center in Baltimore, MD for two years before arriving at St. Mary’s in 2019. Norman was a graduate assistant coach at Salisbury University after first starting his coaching career as a performance coach at Parisi Speed School in Edgewater, MD. A former lacrosse player at York College of Pennsylvania, Norman continued his love for the water training and racing in standup paddle board following college. Norman turned professional in 2012 and has been continuing to compete on the local and national race circuit since 2010. Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Tom Evans is an assistant strength & conditioning coach at the University of Delaware. He oversees the training for the women’s lacrosse and men’s lacrosse teams in addition to assisting with the football program. Prior to arriving at UDel in 2017, Evans was an assistant strength coach at Elkin Sports Performance in Richmond, VA. In addition to Evans coaching experience, he has an extensive athletic background in both team and strength sports. He’s gone from offensive lineman at the University of Richmond to earning a spot on the Green Bay Packers for the 2017 pre-season. Following his football career he began competing in strongman and earned his professional strongman status this year after finishing 2nd overall at Strongman Corporation’s National Championship in the Super Heavyweight class. Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Brandon Bullett is the head coach and owner of Bullett Performance Training gym in Clovis, CA. Brandon opened Bullet Performance Training in 2016 while also working as an assistant coach for the Fresno Monsters hockey team in addition to leading their strength & conditioning program. Since opening Brandon has also worked with local high schools Memorial, Kerman, and Buchanan’s baseball teams. Prior to starting the semi-private training facility, Brandon was a strength & conditioning Coach at Game Time Training and has completed strength & conditioning certifications under Mike Boyle as well as been a mentee to Eric Cressey. Brandon played junior college baseball before shifting all focus to hockey where he played at Syracuse University before moving to the west coast to play in the Western States Hockey League. After winning the Thorne Cup with the Phoenix Polar Bears, he was drafted into professional hockey and finished his playing career with the Mississippi RiverKings of the Southern Professional Hockey League in 2012. Following his professional career he still continues to train hard while coaching and running his business in addition to playing rec hockey and picking up golfing.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Matt Tometz is the Sports Science Coordinator and Sports Performance Specialist at TCBoost Sports Performance in Northbrook, Illinois. At TCBoost, Coach Tometz works with youth, middle school, high school, college, and professional athletes from all sports as well organizes the sport science efforts and experiments for the performance staff. Prior to his current position, he was a sport scientist with TCU athletics and research assistant at The Sport Science Center at TCU. He also spent time as a youth baseball instructor for the Texas Rangers Baseball Club, an equipment manager at TCU, and intern coach at TCBoost. In addition to his coaching, Tometz is the host of The Talking Shop Podcast, is a published research author in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, as well as a freelance videographer creating his own coaching education videos and content for YouTube and social media as well as companies like 1080 Motion. Tometz is a former college baseball pitcher that saw his career go from walk-on to competing in the 2015 NCAA DII College World Series for Truman State University (MO). He continues to stay heavily involved in lifting, using his own training to test out new programs, research, technologies, and ideas on himself prior to implementing them with his athletes.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Guillermo Blanco is a tactical strength & conditioning coach currently working with the Army’s H2F Program at Fort Bragg, NC. Prior to his time in the tactical setting, Coach Blanco served multiple roles at McKendree University (DII) as the head powerlifting coach, assistant athletic performance coach as well as adjunct instructor. In the collegiate setting he’s also been an assistant coach at Aurora University (DIII) as well as beginning his coaching career as an intern at the University of Illinois (DI) with the football team. In addition to his collegiate experience Blanco has spent time coaching both at the high school level as well as the private sector at sports performance facility: Wheaton-Warrenville South High School and Acceleration Sports Performance, respectively; in addition to personal training at various large gyms when first starting his career. As a competitive powerlifter himself, Blanco, has been competing in multiple divisions and weight classes including raw, classic raw, and multiply powerlifting since 2015 in the APF/WPC.  He brings his coaching knowledge and personal experience competing to fellow powerlifters as an online powerlifting coach working with athletes of all levels, weight classes, and disciplines. Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Sam Whitney is the Athletic Operations Coordinator and Strength & Conditioning Coach at The Agnes Irwin School in Philadelphia, PA. Prior to his current position, Whitney spent 9 years as first an assistant coach before being promoted to the Associate Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for Olympic Sports at Temple University where he oversaw training for the 15 varsity sports. He served as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University as well as both Assistant and Volunteer Coach roles at Villanova University before arriving at Temple. Whitney is a published author in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and is the owner of We Train Clan, which provides elite level performance training for individuals. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Instructor at Temple’s College of Public Health department as well as the creator of the Philly Area S&C Association, a community organization designed to foster relationships and develop knowledge specific to the profession of S&C in and around Philadelphia, PA. Sam himself is also a competitive powerlifter. Competing since 2013 in multiple weight classes in the USAPL and IPF, he has personal bests of 518 squat, 352 bench, and 611 deadlift. Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Randy Flores is an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. Prior to arriving at his current position he spent his time in the college ranks first as a student assistant coach at Texas Tech University before being elevated to full-time assistant coach. After his time at Texas Tech he spent three season as the head strength coach for men’s basketball at the University of Memphis, later going on to become an associate strength coach at Fresno State University. Flores is also a performance coach at Future FIt. Flores walked on the Texas Tech football team before deciding to shift his focus to coaching and working with the Texas Tech strength & conditioning staff. He continues to stay heavily involved in training both at home and on the road with his team.  Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Andy Ward is the Assistant Director of Football Strength & Conditioning at the University of Colorado. He arrived at Colorado after four years at Fresno State as the head strength coach and then the director of sports performance for football. Prior to Fresno State, Ward was a sports performance Coach at Stanford University. He began his coaching career splitting time between Custom Built Personal Training and as a student assistant coach at his alma mater, Cal State Stanislaus. Ward has also held internship coaching positions at Sacramento State, UC San Diego, and Stanford. Ward is a big proponent of knowing his program backwards and forwards, always fine tuning it to best fit his athletes. He continues to stay active by hiking in the Colorado Mountains and lifting, which he uses to test out new programs, research, technology, and ideas on himself before implementing them with his athletes. Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show