Another season at Brookline Warriors RFC goes into the books. This season made 9 with the club and number 7 as the person at the top. It was a season of unexpecteds, then again, a bit of the writing was on the wall before it started if we really looked at it, so to speak. In the end, I was satisfied with how things ended up and the direction the club is going. There were many things I could put in this edition, here are the things I picked out I think I learned or maybe relearned, this season.

Coaches are people too- Coaches of sport teams are thought of as these unshakable, impenetrable figures that never screw up or let outside stuff impact them. Facts are, they are people too and sometimes it effects things on the field, positively or negatively, whether we like it or not. And, like it or not, that can cause us to miss some really big problems going on within the team, no matter how unbreakable we think things are. We try our damnedest to be that sturdy beam of support for all, but it can be hard if stuff on the personal side is not going well, it happens.
 
Learning to be successful can be painful- This one is in particular reference to our boys’ team. The boys lost 2 very close games this year, on the last play by having the opponent score. You could see the hurt on their faces after both, one of them in particular because it was probably our best performance of the season. You have two choices after those types of games, let it eat at your and rot you from the inside, or take it on the chin and learn from it. Happily, we did not let those games bug us and went with the latter. We did eventually find ourselves in one more tight game after those two. This time, we got it over the line by taking lessons from those two losses and hanging on to win, in a playoff game no less. Color me happy for that.
 
You can’t cheat the work- Sadly, especially with young people, some just think things will happen for them if they just exist. That is not how sports work for the most part. If you have not done the right work or the proper amount of work before hand, things will blow right up in your face. This was apparent at some points in the season early on and then later in a few games where our week of prep leading up to them was, quite frankly, dog shit. Thus, the performance we put out on the field was exactly that. Things in the sports world don’t just happen because you are there, at least not for very long if they do by chance. When the work ahead of time is done and done well, good things happen, both individually and for the team.

There you have it, like I said, there were many other things I could say here, but these are the points that spoke to me the most. Thanks for reading everyone and since I have slightly more time to myself (I do still have to attend my tiny human after all) you can expect some more consistency out of me. Have a good weekend fam!

Recently, while working with my high school rugby club, I’ve had the chance to watch some other coaches in action, of both sports and S&C variety. There are a few things that are common across both variations when it comes to coaches that are either just not very good or inexperienced at the least. Side note: if you ever hear me refer to a coach as a cowboy, this is the type of person I’m referencing.
 
Only using hype up phrases (or whatever you wish to call them)- There’s nothing wrong with use of these on their own, I use them, so does every other coach when they are truly excited. However, if I all I hear out of a coach’s mouth are things like; yeahaww (see cowboy), yeah baby, hell yeah, that’s how we do it and so on… there’s a problem.
 
An improvement on just these alone would be, the ability to articulate what about that excites them and being able to explain such to the clients or athletes. Otherwise, just refrain from using them too often because if nothing else, it just becomes noise, not anything worth the oxygen used on it.
 
Sticking to general cues only- If the whole week, a coach is screaming 1 of 3 general cues (emphasis on scream, dead giveaway). They might be lacking some knowledge at the least. For instance, we know anyone can sound like a strength coach just saying things like “chest up” or “stay tight”. There's a difference between harping on something like a mantra, and just screaming general nonsense. At the very least the coach needs to be able to articulate what they are looking for exactly when they use these general cues, otherwise improvements should be sought out, either from the coach or by changing the coach.
 
An improvement on this, similar to above would be cuing something more specific. Granted, this may be something that’s specific to more than one person, still it’s a more positive sign than not. Something like, put pressure through the outside of your foot or finish your pass with your ring finger pointed at their shoulder, are examples of things that will probably apply to more than one person, yet more specific and helpful.
 
 
Trying to smash the square peg through the round hole- The same shit does not work with every single person. The general building blocks will, but we often see very specific things tailored to the wrong person. Simple version, some folks will be much better off doing a back squat than a front squat or vise versa. Likewise, on the rugby pitch some players need more of a timing cue on certain elements and some are more looking for a visual or landmark cue to help them. When a coach continuously tries the same thing over, and over, and over, and over again with no improvements whatsoever, it’s not a positive sign.
 
An improvement, even a slight one, would be to see the coach eventually just leave the movement or technique be and come back to it at a later date. Even better is hearing something like, “I don’t know if this is right, let me do some reading and see if we can come up with a better solution.” Admitting they got it wrong or need more information is a super positive sign you’re dealing with a good coach.
 
I'm sure you've picked up, general theme across these, it's all about can the coach give more details or be more detailed, then it's a good sign. Now then, we all have our Spidey senses improved just a bit when it comes to coaches. Next time you pick up on one of these flags, see if the coach continues to go with these same things or improves, you’ll know what kind of quality you are dealing with. Happy Wednesday fam, thanks for reading and hope you have good rest of the week.

Some call it program hopping, some call it muscle confusion, some call it simply, changing it up. In any case, it’s not an effective training strategy if you want to see real benefits from your training. I can certainly understand not wanting to be bored with your training as well. With that consistency is king and you’ll need it to master certain movements (whether you want to or not). Below I have 3 ways I've found work great to at least OK with my gen pop folks.
 
Consistency leads to mastery- If I had my way, I would want trainees to be on the same program, like the exact same, for about 6 weeks. I’m not a fool and realize most people won’t find that enjoyable so I compromise at 4 and since my pricing model matches well with that, that’s what I’ve stuck with and it’s worked. What I have found is that if I change the program just a touch after 4 weeks, for 4 more weeks, it gets the clients to develop good understanding of the movements. So, in the end, consistency is king both in showing up and in your training program.
 
Variety is the spice of life- I’m not so hardheaded to think that folks won’t get bored with the program, so I’ll change reps, SOME variations and sets. Sometimes it's after that 4th week, and if not then, absolutely after the 8th week, unless someone likes where things are going. The cornerstone movements usually won’t vary all that much, hinge, squat, push, pull and carry. Why? Because those are the big money movements that provide you more bang for your buck the better you master them. The accessory movements are the ones that move the most, while still seeing benefits.
 
For those that can’t help themselves- Should you run into a situation where you need weekly variety with someone, the best compromise for both sides are simple. Keep the main lifts the same, hinge, squat, push, pull, carry and then vary up the accessory moves. Keep the pattern, but change the exact exercise. Keep in mind this is less ideal, and will, for very short periods, work just fine, stick with one of the above otherwise.
 
Example; Week 1 Squat as the main lift, 1-Leg RDL and 1-Arm Bench as your accessories. Week 2 Squat as the main lift, 1-Leg Hip Thrust and Landmine Press as your accessories, and so on.

The above are best, to good, to still good but less optimal. If you find yourself in  a rut (or someone you know is in a rut) consider one of the last 2 options to help kick start. Do yourselves a favor though, resist with every little bit of effort you have, total program hopping. It simply isn't a good strategy. Thanks for reading fam, have yourself a week!