Stronger Athletes
March 20 "Excuses are no good. Your friends don't need them and your enemies won't believe them. So why make them?" -Jake Gaither, Legendary Florida A&M Football Coach
As mentioned before we would like to re-cap several of the speakers from the 2002 National Strength & Science Seminar. Dr. James Peterson, who currently works as a sports medicine consultant out of Arizona, was formerly responsible for strength training at West Point in the 1970's. Dr. Peterson encouraged us to go home and thank our parents for helping the U.S. Government research one of the most significant strength development studies ever. He based his claim on the fact that West Point provided him with the most efficient control group available.
Dr. Peterson opened his talk with a Clinton joke... Which obviously turned off some of our liberal friends in attendance but it was funny! "Bill Clinton had to get a physical... few people know this but he is hard of hearing so Hillary went with him to translate for the doctor... The doctor said, "We're going to need a urine, stool, and semen sample." Bill turned to Hillary, "What?" Hillary replied, "He needs to see your underwear."
Dr. Peterson, in a very light hearted, yet at times very compelling and passionate address gave us several "Myths of Strength Training."
Arthur Jones was a great influence on Dr. Peterson. "He taught me to challenge everything and not to take anything for face value." At the time many universities were beginning to see the benefits of strength training for their teams. These coaches were going to the only people in the world who were lifting weights at the time... Olympic Lifters. So, logically these coaches took these techniques to their teams and their athletes got stronger. However that is not hard to do when one goes from doing no strength training to anything, including Olympic lifts. Jones however challenged that idea with the concept of training the muscle to failure... following the principle of fiber recruitment to make athletes quicker... and employing a safer environment for training athletes.
Now, the science of strength development has come a long way since Jones hit the scene however his "Challenging of the System" is what remains important. Coaches, StrongerAthletes.com strongly encourages you to find out why you teach the things you do in the weight room. Know the reasons and be confident in your approach regardless if you follow Olympic, Non-Olympic, or even the dreaded Swiss Ball training.
***No Liability is assumed for any information written on the StrongerAthlete.com website. No medical advice is given on exercise. This advice should be obtained from a licensed health-care practitioner. Before anyone begins any exercise program, always consult your doctor. The articles are written by coaches that are giving advice on a safe, productive, and efficient method of strength training.***
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