I went to my first strength training and conditioning clinic back in 1983. At the time, I was a graduate assistant strength coach at The Ohio State University. The Head Strength Coach, Steve Bliss, was adamant about his staff seeking out ways to improve their coaching by gaining more knowledge and insight on both the science…. and art…. of strength training and conditioning of athletes.
One of the first clinics that I attended was a clinic in Cincinnati where Cincinnati Bengals' Strength Coach Kim Wood was a speaker. The University of Michigan was represented by their strength coach Mike Gittleson. And, a guy who created and wrote The Steel Tip was there, too; Ken Leistner. These guys were amazing. And, they had some of their athletes on hand to perform some demonstration workouts. These were not the workouts of the local Planet Fitness variety. These guys were going at it with a fervor that most of the coaches in attendance had never seen before.
Coach Wood had some of his Bengal players go through a series of exercises and the coaches in attendance took heed! Since the Bengals had recently been a Super Bowl contestant, just about every coach had their notebooks and legal pads going full tilt. Nobody scrolled their text messages or email accounts back then!
Anyway, a few days later, a bunch of grad assistants at Ohio State were busy using their new found knowledge. Young Buckeye football players like Jim Lachey, Keith Byars, Chris Spielman and Jeff Uhlenhake were subjected to a new and intense approach to their workouts. Coach Bliss and his assistant, Ted Lambrinides beamed with approval.
ASAP Video and Blogpost by Ed Cicale
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