Elitefts Sports Performance Podcast (sports and fitness)

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Syndication

Cam Davidson Interview

There aren’t many strength and conditioning coaches that get the opportunity to work with national championship teams or athletes. Cam Davidson has been a part of them in three different sports. Davidson, who is an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Nittany Lions’ Olympic Sports has worked with men’s ice hockey, track and field, the four-time national champion women’s volleyball team, and the three-time national champion wrestling team, among others.  Davidson also trains three-time national champion and Olympic hopeful shot-putter, Ryan Whiting.

I had the privilege of witnessing Cam’s wisdom and his passion for strength and conditioning during his presentations, hands-on coaching, and his own training. He spoke at the Central Ohio Strength and Conditioning Clinic in May of 2012 on max effort training for female athletes where he displayed incredible knowledge of the scientific foundations and the practical application of his training modalities. Cam has the uncanny ability to communicate complex training methodologies in a very clear and enthusiastic manner. This summer while training at The Columbus Weightlifting Club, Cam visited the S4 Compound and coached me through the Olympic lifts.  He was also the key contributor on Olympic Lifting for Athletes: Using Static Holds to Improve Technique, published here on elitefts.com.

Cam Davidson is a friend, mentor, and an outstanding strength and conditioning coach.  It was a pleasure to do this interview.

Topics Covered in this Podcast

1. Cam’s Career Path

2. Transitioning from Small School Head Coach to Big School Assistant

3. Max Effort Training for Females

4. Being New to an Already Successful Program

5. Olympic Lifting Progressions for First-year Players

6. Four-Stage Squat Progression for Throwers

7. Training Athletes at the Highest Levels of Competition

8. Cam’s Biggest Challenges in the Profession

Cam Davidson enters his first year as the Penn State men’s hockey team’s strength and conditioning coach in 2013-14.

As an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the University, Davidson also works with Penn State’s women’s volleyball and track & field programs. During his time in State College, he also assisted in the design and application for the strength programs for the three-time NCAA defending national champion Penn State wrestling squad. In addition to his work with the school’s teams, Davidson serves as the strength coach for Penn State volunteer throws coach and 2012 Olympian Ryan Whiting.

Prior to working at Penn State, Davidson was the director of strength and conditioning at the College of Charleston from 2007-09. At Charleston, he designed and implemented strength and conditioning programs for all 19 intercollegiate teams.

Davidson began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Wyoming, where he wrestled from 2001-02. Davidson went on to earn his master’s degree from Marshall University in 2006, while working with many of its athletic teams. In 2006-07, he served as an assistant basketball strength coach at Clemson.

A senior-level Olympic weightlifter, Davison has competed at the national level for the past three years. He is SCCC certified through the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association, CSCS certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, has his Level 1 weightlifting certification through USA weightlifting, and has taken advanced certifications through Columbus Weightlifting and Totten Training Systems.

- Courtesy of Penn State Sports Information

 

 

9. Athletes’ Impressions of the Coach’s Training

Direct download: Elitefts_SP_Episode_4.mp3
Category:Sports and Fitness -- posted at: 5:26am EDT

Tom Palumbo Interview

I first met Tom Palumbo in 2006 when he visited The United States Military Academy at West Point. I was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Army and Tom was the associate head strength and conditioning coach at The Ohio State University, a position he held until the Spring of 2012. As the director of strength and conditioning at Denison University, I had decided to intern for Tom at Ohio State in the summer of 2007. Tom’s passion for getting his athletes better, his diligence and practical application of anecdotal research, his tenacious work ethic, and his unwavering integrity has made him one of the most respected coaches at the collegiate setting.

I have witnessed firsthand, Tom Palumbo coaching in the weight room, mentoring interns, and presenting at conferences. I asked Coach Palumbo to present at three consecutive central Ohio strength and conditioning clinics, as well as many other regional and national conferences. As an internship coordinator, I would schedule multiple professional development trips each year. These were integral to the learning process for our student coaches.

Tom has used his experiences from the University of Georgia, The Pittsburgh Pirates, and The Ohio State University to organize and institute Flagler College’s first ever strength and conditioning program. In this interview from the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Conference in Kansas City, Missouri last May, Tom and I discuss his journey and transition through the coaching field. He goes into detail about programming, internships, and his frustrations within the industry.

Topics covered in podcast:

    1. The career path
    2. The Challenges of starting a program from scratch
    3. Transitioning to a smaller school
    4. Using accommodating resistance
    5. Both sides of internships
    6. Off-season programming
    7. The stressors of the profession
    8. Dealing with sport coaches

Tom Palumbo begins his second season as Flagler’s strength and conditioning coach. He is the school’s first full-time employee in that position and started July 9, 2012.

Palumbo comes to Flagler from The Ohio State University where he served as an associate strength and conditioning coach since 2003. He directed the women’s lacrosse, women’s ice hockey, men’s swimming, women’s golf and rifle teams recently, but has worked with 28 sports during his time with the Buckeyes.

Prior to Palumbo’s time in Columbus, he had a stint as the minor league conditioning coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates and was the assistant director of strength and conditioning at the University of Georgia (1999-01).

He worked directly with 15 future Olympians as well as 33 all-Americans. Some of the notable student-athletes he worked with includes two-time gold medal winner Courtney Shealy (swimming), and gold medal winners Tessa Bonhomme (ice hockey) and Debbie Ferguson (track and field). Palumbo also worked with 2012 Master’s champion Bubba Watson at Georgia.

A native of Savannah, Ga., Tom graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor of science degree in microbiology. He also earned a master of education in physical education and sports studies from Georgia.

- Courtesy of Flagler College Sports Information
Direct download: Elitefts_SP_Episode_3.mp3
Category:Sports and Fitness -- posted at: 5:21am EDT

Chad Scott, Tim Kontos, and Jon-Michael Davis Interview

I had the opportunity to sit down with three strength and conditioning coaches that I have the utmost respect for. Not only are these three gentlemen outstanding coaches, but they have been both friends and mentors to me.

I was introduced to Tim Kontos many years back through elitefts™ columnist Todd Hamer. Tim is one of the most respected strength and conditioning coaches in the industry and his work ethic, practical knowledge, and unwavering integrity are unparalleled.

I have known Chad Scott since the Spring of 2010 when he came to Denison University for a USA Weightlifting Certification and I met Jon-Michael Davis a few months after. In the summer of 2011, I brought my interns on a professional development trip to elitefts™ and also took them to Eastern Kentucky University. At the time, Chad Scott was still an assistant at EKU and he, Coach Davis, myself, and all of my interns spent the day talking shop. It was an invaluable learning experience for my guys as we talked about real-life coaching issues with brutal honesty. We also had a chance to poke fun at every stereo-typical coach, athlete, and NARP until I laughed so hard my face hurt. Chad and Jon-Michael are great men and role models for young coaches.

We all sat down in the lobby of the hotel during the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association National Conference in Kansas City Missouri in May. We talked about how each of them got their start in the field, advice for young strength and conditioning coaches trying to break into the profession, and the biggest challenges of being a strength and conditioning coach.

Direct download: Elitefts_SP_Episode_2.mp3
Category:Sports and Fitness -- posted at: 5:05am EDT

Dan John Interview

Dan John is one of the most influential and popular authors in the Sports Performance Community.  Dan has competed in Track & Field, Olympic Weightlifting, and Highland games a the highest level.  He was an All-American Thrower in the discus and still holds the American Record in the Weight Pentathlon. Dan John is the author of Intervention, Never Let Go, and Mass Made Simple.  He has also co-authored Easy Strength with Pavel Tsatsouline.  I had the opportunity to sit down and interview Dan for this podcast during the last day of discus camp.  Our discussion covered many topics including the need to write Intervention, his 4 quadrants, youth training in America, 3 musts for trainers, periodization, assessment, and teaching the hip hinge.

For the last several years, I have made the trip to Granville, Ohio to visit with Dan at John Powell’s Throwing Camp on the campus of Denison University.  The first year, my assistants and I sat in an on-campus apartment and talked for hours about training, the industry, and life in general. To say if was a invaluable learning experience is an understatement.

Year two found me making the trek to my former place of employment twice.  The first time ended up being an outstanding roundtable of sorts as Nic Bronkal, Elitefts.com™ Advisor, J.L Holdsworth, myself, Derek Fry, and Nick Showman joined John Powell and Dan John. Anytime, you have a collection of coaches able to share ideas without ego, everyone involved wins.

Books by Dan John

Easy Strength: How to get  lot Stronger than you Competition (with Pavel Tsatsouline)

Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

Mass Made Simple: A Six-Week Journey into Bulking

Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Living, Lifting, and Learning


Videos by Dan John

Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

Dan John 3-DVD Set: Everything’s Over my Head, From the Ground Up, and Carried Away

Dan John has spent his life with one foot in the world of lifting and throwing, and the other foot in academia. An All-American discus thrower, Dan has also competed at the highest levels of Olympic lifting, Highland Games and the Weight Pentathlon, an event in which he holds the American record.

Dan spends his work life blending weekly workshops and lectures with full-time writing, and is also an online religious studies instructor for Columbia College of Missouri. As a Fulbright Scholar, he toured the Middle East exploring the foundations of religious education systems. His books, on weightlifting, include Intervention, Never Let Go, Mass Made Simple and Easy Strength, written with Pavel Tsatsouline as well as From Dad, To Grad.