Publication: “Peak Power, Force and Velocity During Jump Squats in Professional Rugby Players”
Published September 22, 2011
A few weeks ago we found out that our paper with the title ”Peak Power, Force and Velocity During Jump Squats in Professional Rugby Players” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (JSCR).
We had to go through 3 reviews, mainly due to the reviewers continuously not being happy with the sample size. Fortunately, through some further detail added (especially in the statistics portion where one of the primary authors performed some impressive skills that were in all honesty way over my head), we were able to demonstrate that the sample size was statistically appropriate/significant, and more than matched -if not improved upon- previous published research of a similar nature (especially given the fact our sample consisted of highly trained professional athletes).
Although the below pdf is still the “proof-read” version sent to us by JCSR (there are a few grammatical and administrative alterations left to be made) getting the final copy will take a while so I decided to post the study early for anyone interested as the main content will stay the same.
In addition, I have also attached a pdf of my undergraduate dissertation which was what the publication study was based on. The raw data is the same but there are a few different angles of discussion/focus (along with some different references) within this paper which may be of additional interest.
Finally, I would like to sincerely thank everyone who was involved with this paper, as well as all who sent in their congratulations and good wishes over the last few weeks. Thoughts/comments/critical review are of course always welcome, I hope you find the papers to be of use!
JSCR Publication Proof-Version
Dissertation Final Copy (Graphs, Tables and Figures displayed after Reference section)
An Interview with Adam Trypas
Published September 15, 2011
This week’s post is an interview with Adam Trypas, a good friend, mentor and top-class coach.
Adam has just finished as the Head S&C coach for Toyota Rugby (Japan), and has been a tremendous source of knowledge and education for me over the last few years.
Weighing in with a competitive Weightlifting background and many successful years coaching athetes in professional Rugby League/Union (as well as Soccer and Water Polo), Adam has an astute knowledge of what it takes to succeed at the highest level, and is always more than willing to “talk shop” with anyone.
Some great thoughts and discussion in this interview, enjoy!
1. Hi Adam, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Could you give my readers your background, and how you came to be a strength and conditioning coach?
No problem at all. It is very humbling to be asked to contribute to your page.
I come from an Olympic lifting background, which was instilled in me from a young age from my father who represented Australia in lifting in the 1970’s. Although I had absolutely no interest in lifting weights in my early teens, I just decided one weekend when I was 17yrs of age that I was going to start weightlifting the following Monday.
Book Review: Ultimate MMA Conditioning – Joel Jamieson
Published July 18, 2011
“Ultimate MMA Conditioning” is written by Joel Jamieson, in my opinion one of the best authours and distributors of S&C information currently going around. His (free) website www.8weeksout.com is a valuable resource that no coach – or even athlete – should fail to make use of. The articles, forum and blog all represent what Joel is about: sharing good (and readily applicable) training information based on sound science and practical experience. I am happy to say that UMMAC does this vision justice. For more information about Joel please click here and here.
The book had been recommended to me by quite a few friends over the last couple of months and last week I finally managed to find some time to read it. Given the fantastic interview Joel was kind enough to do for this site a few weeks ago, I figured the book would be a good read, but to be honest I underestimated it and it surpassed my expectations by a long way. Simply put, this is the best energy system development book I have come across, and is an equally impressive training planning resource regardless of the sport you deal with.
Audio Interview with Joel Jamieson
Published June 17, 2011
Joel Jamieson (right)
This week’s post is a special one as its the first audio interview of the site!
Joel is a wicked smart coach and a great guy to boot who was kind enough to give up a big chunk of his time to do the interview (how many people you know would stay up well past midnight to answer questions from a small-time coach like me?).
His credentials speak for themselves having coached and developed athletes across a huge range of sports (most notably he was head S&C for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and currently trains elite MMA fighters such as Rich Franklin).
In this interview Joel addresses a huge range of topics on everything from the high-
low training approach, the OmegaWave, energy system development for different sports and some excellent learning resources you may not have heard of before. Make sure to also visit Joel’s website at 8weeksout.com where he has a huge amount of free resources and an impressive forum.
Some really fantastic information in this one, click the link below to listen:
http://www.8weeksout.com/2011/06/17/strength-conditioning-interview-by-cedric-unholz/
Book Review: Special Strength Training Manual for Coaches – Yuri Verkhoshansky
Published June 14, 2011
The SSTM is the long-awaited follow-up to the first edition published in 2006, and also represents the final contribution of the late Yuri Verkhoshansky (in collaboration with his daughter Natalia) to the field of athletic physical preparation.
Even after his death Verkhoshansky continues to be one of the foremost authorities on adaptation to strength & conditioning modalities, as well training planning/programming. In addition, Verkhoshansky can easily be considered one of the experts in sports training theory, achieving an illustrious career both in the former USSR and internationally, and being a key contributor to seminal texts such as “Supertraining”. For those interested, a closer look at his CV/bibliography can be taken by clicking HERE.
I will begin this review by saying that I don’t think there is an excuse for not reading/owning this book if you are in any way involved in training athletes. Quite simply, this is probably one of the more comprehensive books on the topic, which is saying something as the main body of the book is only 233 pages long.
An Interview with David Joyce
Published June 3, 2011
This week’s interview is with David Joyce, a physiotherapist and strength coach who I had the pleasure of meeting during my ECU practical module in Perth last year.
David has become a good friend since then and is the perfect example of a physiotherapist that understands what is needed to progress an athlete from rehabilitation to high performance, and identify what strategies are needed at different times to achieve this.
Not only has he rehabilitated, trained and developed elite athletes across a range of sports but he also manages to find time to lecture on highly regarded sports science/physiotherapy Masters courses in the UK and Australia.
Hi Cedric, thanks for inviting me. I am an Injury and High Performance Specialist. I have come to this role by way of being both a sports physiotherapist and a strength coach. My initial qualification was as a physio. I got my Bachelor degree from the University of Queensland and then did my Masters of Sports Physio just less than a decade later. I also have a Masters in Strength and Conditioning, meaning I’m one of only 2 people (that I know of) to have Masters degrees in both these areas. Continue reading
Athletic Development Training Theory
Published May 4, 2011
This article is an amalgamation of my thoughts, opinions and information from various sources I have been studying over the past few years. The goal of this article is for it to act as a work-in-progress document that allows me to clarify and refine my coaching philosophies (in this case my thoughts on athletic development) and enable me to develop my own personal training theory.
As I believe it is ok (and necessary) to make mistakes and learn from them, I welcome and look forward to any questions, comments or points of debate. It is through discussion and the sharing of ideas that I believe the greatest developments and learning occur.
In addition, I think it is important to acknowledge the influences that have helped shape my philosophy thus far, either personally or intellectually. I certainly don’t consider myself to have any special original thoughts but instead strive to learn and adapt from great practitioners/researchers and their material.
With that being said I would like to specifically thank Robert Panariello, Patrick Ward, Derek Hansen, Joel Jamieson, Dan Pfaff, Charlie Francis, Al Vermeil, Buddy Morris, Mladen Jovanovich, Robbie Bourke, Eamonn Flanagan, John Watson, Nick Horton, David Leith, Sean Waxman and Michael Hartman for helping me develop my take on things.
An Interview With Dr. Michael Hartman – Part 2
Published May 2, 2011
Part 2 of Dr. Hartman’s interview (click here to read Part 1), what better way to start the week?
Michael returns to give his thoughts on in-season training for athletes, how he implements screening and corrective exercise protocols, plenty of good reading suggestions and what every athlete needs to train. In addition, he gives some of the best advice i’ve read about how to develop yourself as a coach and what factors must be taken into consideration.
Plenty of things to get your teeth into here, have a great week.
8. How do you implement resistance training during a team sport athlete’s in-season period?
In-season training really depends on the athlete and how often they compete, and the amount of time they play. In the US, most team sports play both during the week and weekend (except American football, which is just Friday or Saturday). In some cases there may be a stretch of 3 games in 5 days, and other times 3 games over 18-21 days. Obviously the time during the season with a high amount of game activity, the training is more restorative or corrective in nature, and higher loading, as seen is the off-season, is reserved for the times during the season without much game activity. Continue reading
Keeping It Simple, Keeping It Fun: The Path To Results
Published April 18, 2011
Nick Horton
This week’s warm-up post to Part 2 of Michael Hartman’s interview (click here for Part 1) is a really thoughtful and impressive article written by Nick Horton, who I did an interview with here.
Nick’s blog is full of great information and genuine care/thought on how to develop athletes, with the best part being that he manages to do this all by being friendly, open-minded and creatively analytical.
Click here for the link to the article “The Death of Heavy Days: How To Do More Work With Less Obsession”, in which Nick goes over habit breaker protocols, how to guarantee training program success with athletes, and what needs to be done to construct a benficial psychological training environment to achieve results.
Enjoy!
Posted in Olympic Lifting, Random, Recovery, Speed & Agility Training, Strength Training | 
1 CommentAn Interview with Dr. Michael Hartman – Part 1
Published April 9, 2011
This week’s offering is Part 1 of my interview with Dr. Michael Hartman, a sport scientist and strength & conditioning coach based in Texas. Michael weighs in with some serious credentials to his name, having held coaching and sport science roles at the prestigious US Olympic Training Centre amongst other things, as well as being fortunate enough to learn his trade from some of the most highly regarded practitioners in the field.
As always its an honour to have someone of this standing take the time to answer an interview and share his thoughts, I think there are some big take-homes in this one so I hope you get as much out of it as I did.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
There is no substitute for hard work....
1. Hi Michael, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Could you give my readers your background, and how you came to be a Strength and Conditioning coach?
I was first introduced to strength training as a teenager by my father. There were always bodybuilding magazines lying around, but the first “real” strength training book he bought for me was “Speed-Strength Training for Football” by EJ Kreis. Even now, 25+ years after it was published, I still think it’s a decent book for athletes. Later, during high school, my brother and I were introduced to an organized off-season program that emphasized the use of the Squat, Bench Press, and Power Clean while recognizing the importance of setting goals and working hard; simple concepts that many people seem to forget when designing a program. Continue reading