Baseball Strength Speed and Power

We train teams, small groups and individuals.

We also have a batting cage and turf available for skills practices.

We will focus on the field specific aspects of speed such as lateral quickness for middle infielders, out of the box speed, breaking on the ball speed, and first step quickness. 60 yard dash work can be addressed.
Regarding the throwing arm, exercises that target the rotator cuff, such as a variety of internal and external rotation movements will be utilized. Scapular strength and stability will also be addressed. Since the bicep also plays a role in stabilizing this joint, it too will be strengthened.
Core stability and rotational power, when combined with the above work, leads to a more powerful throwing arm that is less apt to become injured.
A special concern to pitchers includes the maintenance and strengthening of the rotator cuff. Large amounts of energy are absorbed by the body as the hand releases the pitch. This stress should be transferred to the stronger scapular stabilizers rather than the rotator cuff. Training this area together with certain plyometric moves, direct cuff work, and closed chain movements reduces the incidence of injury and strengthens the throwing arm.

“I thought the Strength, Fitness And Speed program really helped me learn how to train like a pro athlete”
-Tom Shirley

I first came across Strength, Speed and Fitness when I was the head baseball coach at Kiski Area.  At that time I was astounded at the progress the players that trained with them made in the short period of time they had worked with them.  As each of the players became faster, stronger and more agile, their level of play and their self-confidence greatly improved.I am presently the head baseball coach at Belle Vernon Area.  Once again I am seeing the benefits of their program in the 12 players that are regularly working under them.  Their improvement has been so significant that other players on our teams (middle school up) are taking notice.  In fact, no less than seven players and their parents have approached me to get information on their program to make arrangements to begin working with them at the conclusion of our current season.

As a former professional baseball scout and a former college coach, I highly recommend their program for any players wanting to increase their chances of playing at the next level.

Daryl Hixenbaugh

Past Head Baseball Coach Belle Vernon Area High School

Softball Strength Speed and Power

What is it exactly that we work on with our Softball athletes?

We have lots of experience in this area as we have trained teams from Nitro, Team PA, Outlaws, Predators, Renegades, Riot and multiple high school teams.

Things we work on:

1)Action: Dynamic warm Up, Stretch

Benefit: Proprioception development, Increased Core Temperature for better training performance

2)Action: Mechanical adjustments, sprint techniques evolving to very specific basepath and positional speed.

Benefit: Beating out infield hits, stretching singles into doubles, better reaction and getting to infield hits and fly balls. Better mechanics means more EFFICIENT movement.

3) Action: Overloading the athletic movements with resistance and assistance.

Benefit: Contrast training provides better neuromuscular recruitment and power in movements. Example: pre training athletes exhibit much less muscle recruitment than trained athletes. Contrast training and complexing a plyo and a resisted movement enhances recruitment leading to much improved getting out of the box and exploding to a space.

4)Action: Progressing movements from closed(predictable) to open(random).

Benefit: Better transference to the field. There is very little ready –set- go in sports and softball. Movement must be reactive, not on your own cue.

5) Power development in the body, including lower core education and activation and development of explosive rotational core power using med balls and plyometric drills

Benefit: All movement originates in the low core. The low core is your anchor. A stronger educated lower abdomen provides an anchor from which an athlete can turn powerfully on a pitch or launch a fast pitch. All movement originates in the lower abdomen. Rotational core power provides greater velocity off of the bat, a stronger throwing arm and a more efficient consistent swing.

6)Leg strength and stability and ground contact work

Benefit: Reduced chances of cruciate ligament knee injuries

7)Upper Body strength and power transfer

Benefit: Increased bat speed and better power transfer from legs to hands

Keeping at it with smarts

I want to urge everyone to never lose sight of their goals. Do not let anyone take anything from you. If you do not give it to them, they cannot have it. That includes your dignity, confidence and esteem. Don’t play like  a coach who is not too “high” on you expects you to play, play like you can.

We have some student athletes here at SFAS or others I train offsite who never seem to take a rep or a workout off. Workouts are tough, smart and efficient.

On the other hand I see video of athletes doing old school leg presses with tons of weight, looks great but then over time their quads balloon and their hamstrings are about as big a pencil. Ham tears and injuries since their powerful quads can’t be held in check by their hamstrings for landings, decelerations, etc.

Can you tell me what a seated sloppy supported dumbbell press wearing a weightlifting belt that shrinks your waist from 32 to 26 is going to do for you? Sit down=lack of core. Add a belt to the mix=turn off TVA muscle which is your body’s own weightlifting belt. End result=inability transfer any upper body power from this pathetic exercise. However I see it prescribed by “trainers” frequently.

The Deadlift is often a sight to behold humping it up, corkscrewing, spiraling and turning the spine into a C. If you started and maintained it that way, OK. If you started with a neutral spine and ended up looking like an inverted U don’t complain 2 years from now when you have this burning stab all of a sudden in your L5-S1 region.

Or how about a cheating seated wide grip pulldown? WTF?

Let’s not even get into the Olympic Lifts and how they are abused with atrocious form.

Keep it smart!!

 

 

THE CASE FOR IN SEASON TRAINING

IN SEASON  STRENGTH/SAQ CLASSES

We have run 22 very successful years of these sessions with dedicated FALL SPORTS players from the area. These classes have covered the maintenance of speed, agility and quickness and getting a jump on showcase event prep. Recovery techniques involving lactic acid clearance and myofascial release are also being used. The football players have also benefited from working on hand speed and hand eye with special techniques we’ve developed through the years. We will be running these classes throughout the high school/junior high school season. To get involved email us at ed@strengthfitnessandspeed.com.

More Importance of In Season Maintenance

A recent research study entitled, “DETRAINING AND TAPERING ADAPTATION ON STRENGTH AND POWER PERFORMANCE” was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Aug. 2007 and provides definitive scientific data that addresses your question of whether it is worth maintaining some level of training frequency versus stopping altogether and participating in a sport.  In the study, speed and strength training was conducted for 16 weeks prior to the experimental detraining (DTR) or maintenance (MT) work.  Following the training period, DTR stopped additional exercise; the other group, MT, performed low volume, high intensity work periodically.  Both groups continued to participate in their given sport.  Following 4 weeks of this modification, DTR lost some strength but had over a 15% decrease in muscle power (slower running speed and lower vertical jump), while  MT (the group that continued with their performance training) showed a small increase in strength and maintained power (maintenance of performance gains)

Progress and Success

I was on a trip to Disney in 2003 and we stopped in at the Hall of Presidents. There was a great scene there that stuck with me and it was a conversation between Mark Twain and Ben Franklin I believe. Twain said, “The greatest enemy to progress is success.”

After thinking about this off and on through the years there are several reasons why this is true. One would be the obvious which means you get complacent and let yourself get comfortable with the status quo. Problem is things around you are always changing and you must be aware of this whether it is how you live your life, money decisions, business decisions, etc.

Another less obvious reason is that you are making progress and doing well and be wrong about the reasons why you are making progress. A training example would go as follows. Someone has been lifting for only a few years and decides that more will be better. They get locked into what they see on youtube or online magazines and figure that they can live in the gym and make better progress. I am here to tell you that this could not be further from the truth. You actually need MORE recovery time as you get better at generating training intensity. In the end your nervous system recovery will be the limiting factor. There is no natural drug free override of this mechanism. But I digress.

A simple business example would be thinking that running a certain ad online will lead to more business since the same ad led to big results in the past. You neglect to look further into who has seen this ad and realize that it fell into a region with high discretionary income. Wasn’t necessarily the ad but the market that it reached.

The devil is always in the details. I have made it part of my everyday learning to study mental models and ways of thinking outside of my own paradigms. Knowing the absolute causes of the effects you are experiencing will greatly enhance your own chances of “success”.

It also doesn’t hurt to take a pause when presented with a stimulus to prevent a knee-jerk reaction which you will regret later on. There is a time to think quick and a time to think slow. It’s in the way that you use it.

“Progress” is nothing more than an outcome of which you need to be really certain of the source.

Threes and Fives

Myth: Running stadium steps will get you faster

Reality: Running endless steps will shorten your stride length, ruin your fast twitch
composition, and foster recruitment of slow twitch fibers when the athlete thinks of
“sprinting”.

Myth: It has to feel “hard” and burn to make you faster. You should not be able to walk
when you are done.

Reality: For athletes that train with us, “Do you ever notice a theme of 3s and 5s during
your training here? Do you notice that usually the stuff that makes you dead in the legs
happens more towards the end of your session when freshness is not critical?
Here is why. Explosive movement requires an immediate recruitment of fast twitch
fiber. Let’s look at resisted sprinting. First rep feels good, second rep feels decent, third rep
pretty good, fourth rep a little drop off, and fifth rep has you about 80% of your fresh
effort. In addition to depleting CP energy storage, this drop off corresponds to the fatiguing
of your FT(fast twitch fibers). The intermediate fibers, which can be trained to become FT
or ST(slow twitch), are ready to learn what they are going to do in the future. Do we stop
here for a break or do we continue for another 5 reps? Depends.
If you are conditioning, want to recover better at half time, or are looking at distance
related events, roll on. If you want to get more explosive and faster a break in the action is
warranted. Let’s look at what happens from reps 6 to 10. Your fast twitch fibers are
essentially toast at this point. You will now be “teaching” the key intermediate fibers, which
can adapt to become good at explosion or endurance, to become good for marathons or
distance related events. Your brain will also be learning to recruit slow twitch fibers to help
you sprint. Again: YOUR BRAIN WILL BE LEARNING TO RECRUIT SLOW TWITCH
FIBERS TO HELP YOU RUN FAST. Bad idea for speed development. There is an
expression: “Train slow, be slow. Train fast, be fast.”

5 keys to athleticism

Taken from Coach Ed’s emanual 5 Important Keys to Developing Athleticism

Written by

One of Pennsylvania’s most educated and experienced Sports Performance Trainers

Ed Wietholder

 

The following list is by no means all-encompassing but provides some insight into some of the most glaring points that have jumped out at me through the last 40 years of my own training as well as those that I have trained. By no means was I a gifted athlete but years ago at the age of 36 I ran a 4.6 40 yard dash and vertical jumped 36 inches. I also managed to dunk a basketball at a height of 5′ 10″. This was not by accident or due to a gift but because I have learned and observed training outcomes for a very long time. Please take a few minutes and look over my list.

 

1)Put more empahasis on strength, power, explosion and speed than muscular and aerobic endurance.

In other words more strength, fitness and speed and less crossfit and long slow distance running.

The most common question we get is, “Did he or she work hard?”. Did they sweat? Did they breathe heavy? Most of these questions are related to conditioning. Athletes have plenty of time for conditioning. What most lack is explosion. Who cares if you can finish the soccer or basketball or football game without being tired? Did you move explosively during it enough to have an impact on the game? It’s great to be able to get through the game, but were you quick enough during it?

Conditioning and speed, agility quickness training are mutually exclusive events.

When baseball players prep for the season, many teams run distance only.  3 miles per day, 3 times per week. What about speed in the field or on the bases? It would take 2 seasons to run what some teams condition with in a week. THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Especially when you lose 3 close games due to a ball dropping in or getting thrown out at second when stealing or not beating out an infield hit.

Puking during a conditioning workout is one thing. Puking during a speed workout is impossible. Here’s why. When you condition, your body produces a boat load of metabolic acid especially when video gamers start conditioning for the first time. Metabolic acid in copious amounts completely inhibits the firing of any fast twitch fiber that one is trying to tap for SPEED TRAINING. Puking=lack of conditioning, conditioning, eating bad food, virus, nerves. Not explosive training. Not anywhere remotely close.

All you have to do is look at what happens to vertical leap, 10 yard dash, broad jump and 40 yard dash after a 6 week bout of high rep band squats for time. Or what happens after a division I soccer player trains like a marathoner.

Decreases of 4-6 inches in the vert and worsening dash times of .2-.3 seconds are not uncommon.

You can do all of the plyometric and speed drills in the world but if you don’t have  a strong, stable base you will reap very little benefit.

 

2)Work your brakes!

Athletes work linear speed like crazy but the problem is unless you are a track athlete you will have to be able to stop and restart. Stay off of the leg press machine and spend more time in the squat rack. While you are in the squat rack, don’t bounce out of the bottom position, use your hamstrings and glutes down there.

Make sure your ground mechanics are appropriate when you are training. Knees over toes, dorsiflexed ankle on contact. Don’t  feel  for the ground with a pointed toe. Get your hips down! Avoid excessive vertical movement when you are moving laterally.

 

3)Rely more and more on “open” drills.

Ready….
Set……
Go…..
only gets you so far.
You need to perform drills that involve you reacting to a variety of stimuli including contact, visual and auditory. There needs to be a reactive component to your training. You can prove it to yourself by first reacting to a “go” command without false stepping. Next try doing it reacting to a clap or thrown ball. See what I mean?

Your ability to stop and start unpredictably is at the root of agility.

If you do not add the element of surprise(open drills) to your agility repertoire, you become good at a skill like you get good at a golf swing or dancing or a ladder or cone drill.

Multiple studies bear this out.

Once the foundation of good mechanics is laid, unpredictability must follow unless you just want to be a combine or showcase star only.

 

4)Spend more time actually developing your athleticism.

There comes a point in time when being in 2 leagues, for 3 teams and running around reaches a point of diminishing returns.

Your swing is flawless….but has no pop. Will playing for 3 teams make it better?

Your soccer foot skills are great…….but you run like a dump truck. Will playing rec, travel and cup all in the same season fix this?

You are running track to get faster…….will running the mile or throwing the discus make this better?

There comes a point in time when an athlete needs to focus on his or her athleticism. You can’t do this by demonstrating the skills that you have. You must overload with some strength, speed, and agility training and allow time to RECOVER. Try playing for one team, one sport at a time during season.

 

5)Continue training In season! A recent research study entitled, “DETRAINING AND TAPERING ADAPTATION ON STRENGTH AND POWER PERFORMANCE” was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Aug. 2007 and provides definitive scientific data that addresses your question of whether it is worth maintaining some level of training frequency versus stopping altogether and participating in a sport.  In the study, speed and strength training was conducted for 16 weeks prior to the experimental detraining (DTR) or maintenance (MT) work.  Following the training period, DTR stopped additional exercise; the other group, MT, performed low volume, high intensity work periodically.  Both groups continued to participate in their given sport.  Following 4 weeks of this modification, DTR lost some strength but had over a 15% decrease in muscle power (slower running speed and lower vertical jump), while  MT (the group that continued with their performance training) showed a small increase in strength and maintained power (maintenance of performance gains)

 

About the Author

Ed Wietholder is the founder and owner of Strength Fitness and Speed, Inc. Ed has trained many athletes and non athletes as well from the Pittsburgh area. In addition, many have benefited from his routine design and consultation across the United States.

Ed has authored many articles that have appeared in national and international magazines.

Ed has trained and consulted for many High School, Collegiate and Professional teams.

 

What others are saying about Ed Wietholder

Big thanks to Ed Wietholder of Strength Fitness & Speed for the workout and always taking care of me when I’m back in Pittsburgh! Great dude!
Thanks Ed for all the help getting here! If anyone sees this and is in the south hills of Pittsburgh, they should check out Ed Wietholder‘s work!

Chase Winovich
University Of Michigan Football #15
New England Patriots # 50

 

“Coach Ed Wietholder has worked with our Bethel Park Lady Hawk Basketball Program for ten consecutive years. We would not even entertain the thought of having preseason conditioning without him. Coach Ed combines agility, flexibility, strength, stamina, and core exercises into every one of his workouts. It’s easy for me as a coach to make my girls run for conditioning, but that’s just not enough anymore. Today’s high school varsity athlete needs to be cross-trained and that’s right where Coach Ed fits into our program. There is no doubt in my mind that working with him has greatly contributed to success. We have reached the playoffs each of the seasons he has trained us, with the highlight coming in 2013 when we won the program’s first WPIAL championship in history. The Lady Hawk Basketball Team is made tougher, faster, and stronger by Coach Ed and Strength, Fitness And Speed. I highly recommend Ed Wietholder for any aspect of training, team or individual. You will become a better athlete (or team) as a result.”

 

Jonna Burke

Head Varsity Coach

Bethel Park Lady Hawk Basketball

Find out more about Ed and Strength, Fitness And Speed, Inc. –   www.strengthfitnessandspeed.com

Fatherhood

Happy Father’s Day in advance to all of the dads out there. Here’s to the feet that move in sync with your kid’s as they play defense on the basketball floor as you watch from the bleachers. Here’s to the feet that put a hole in the car floor as you teach them how to drive by doing your own braking from the passenger side. Here’s to the pain you feel with their breakups, failures, missed 3’s and strikeouts. Here’s to the joy they bring you each and every day as you watch them make their way!
I was blessed with a Father who’s gift to me was how to create and dream. He also taught me how to beat my opponent be it an exam, a player on the other team, or one of life’s obstacles. He convinced me I would never fail. He instilled a competitive spirit in me and showed me a toughness and stubbornness that was second to none. His approach to life lives on in myself and my sons and for that I am eternally grateful. Rest in Peace Dad. Happy Father’s Day to you.

Hey Dad P.S. When I got cut in the 5th grade from the hoops team thanks for not blaming the coach and putting it squarely on me in such a gentle way. It was pitch black outside that night but out to the court I went. In the 8th grade you did not act surprised when I was named team Captain. Just one of the many life lessons that you taught. Thanks.

Passion and Beginnings in 1998

I have been involved in the acquisition of knowledge regarding the enhancement of
athletic strength, conditioning, speed and other attributes for over 30 years. One might say that it is a passion of mine. I have perused literally thousands of journals and books for new information that may be applied to enhance our clients’ results. Routines that I design are the end product of this knowledge combined with common sense application.
During much of this period I was a Pre-Medical school candidate at the University of
Pittsburgh. I graduated cum laude in 1988, was accepted at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, and decided to do research before entering. I spent 1 year doing research for the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and subsequently decided to learn how to be a Perfusionist. A Perfusionist works in the operating room running heart lung bypass machines that keep patients alive while a surgeon performs open heart surgery or heart/ lung transplantation.
I had the good fortune to work with a gifted Perfusion team and many outstanding
surgeons while at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh . I also saw many miracles taking place under the auspices of many gifted and talented individuals. During this time, my passion towards fitness, strength, and athleticism was satiated by writing for fitness magazines, reading medical and health journals such as the Journal of Applied Physiology, and designing routines for individuals on a freelance basis. I also obtained certifications in Personal Training through the American Council on Exercise and Strength and Conditioning for Sport through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
In 1998, I decided that I needed to pursue my passion all out and began taking steps
to start up Strength, Fitness And Speed. In April of 1999 I started the business and was a
perfusionist by day and a Strength and Conditioning Coach/Personal Trainer by night.
Training was performed in an addition that I built on my house. Off site work was done in every imaginable parking lot and basketball court in South Park that you could imagine. When the snow flew, I discovered a covered grove with a nice 60 foot runway. Old building #4 at the South Park Fairgrounds was also utilized. For many of our clients back in the day they remember how cold it was in there!!

Humble beginnings 1998

 

I was also on call for emergencies and transplants 24 hours per day, 7 days per week every other week during this time. As the business grew, I was running out of time and energy. In March 2000, I left the Hospital to devote the necessary time to expanding the business and to fulfill the pursuit of my passion.

In July 2001, I began using the current Pleasant Hills location to train athletes.
As demand grew I began to assemble a staff that was chosen primarily for passion
and character as well as certification and education. We were also proud to be part of WPIALand State Championship runs with TJ and South Park Football and Soccer. We also trained half of Bethel Park Football’s 2008 offense during their WPIAL run. With many athletes traveling from as far as Greensburg and Mars school districts, I decided to expand to North Irwin in September 2005. The 5000 square foot facility there is growing strong and moved to Monroeville to keep pace with growth.
In 2007 I was approached by Court Time Sports Center in Elizabeth to become part of
their team. Our 3rd location came to be in June 2009. The SFAS program is blended into
their AAU program and is beginning to spread to neighboring school districts. In 2012 we
started operating a fourth site in conjunction with Varsity Strength based in Latrobe.
In 2014 we decided it was time to centralize and expand our operations in Pleasant
Hills. We doubled our space to 5000 square feet and installed more equipment. We set up a PT center within the facility. We anticipate small continuous improvement to our facility for years to come..
I receive emails and calls from clients all over the United States and have corresponded
with individuals in the UK as well as Australia . I have trained NFL athletes and have
caught football with a Pittsburgh Steeler Super Bowl winner. I have trained athletes that
have hit game winning shots at the buzzer in NCAA tournament action. I have received
texts from athletes after bowl game victories thanking me and asking what else they can do
to get to the next level. I have been truly blessed to follow my passion. There is nothing
more rewarding than watching the development of a student athlete as they progress
through junior and senior high school, college and out into their path in life. Since my company has been around for this long I have been honored to watch this cycle with many of our clients. Many student clients that I trained back when we started are now married with children!! Some of these children are training with us!! At Strength,
Fitness And Speed, Inc, we continue to evolve and improve and will always build better athletes one at a time.
Ed Wietholder

Mental approach

I want to refer you to an article on a topic that says it all. I used to write for a magazine called Hardgainer that Brooks Kubik was an author for. I have learned much through the years from Mr. Kubik’s knowledge. It is more about how he delivers it.

The World’s A Mighty Big Place by Brooks Kubik

The world’s a mighty big place.

There’s an awful lot of people living in the world.

In a place that big, with that many people, sometimes it seems like it doesn’t matter if you slack off a bit in your training. After all, there’s plenty of other days to train, and it won’t matter if you take it easy for once. Heck, it won’t matter if you even miss a day. You can always come in and do it tomorrow.

When you’re running sprints, you don’t always have to go full bore. You can slow down a step. The coach will never even know. And slowing down just a little tiny bit makes it hurt a whole lot less.

When you’re lifting weights, you don’t always have to go for that extra rep, or try to put more weight on the bar. Just make it look good. Throw in an extra grunt or two, and put on one of those big pain faces like the guys in the muscle mags when they do their photo shoots. The coach will never know.

You really don’t have to get up and go running before the sun is out. It’s okay to sleep in. No one will ever know.

You don’t have to do 200 pushups a day like you decided to do last week. You can do 50. Or you can skip ‘em today. No one will know.

You don’t have to watch your diet the way your Coach wants you to do. Going out with your buds for a double-dish pizza with everything on it is fine. Wash it down with a couple of cokes, and then go grab a burger and fries from Burger Heaven. You can always get back on your diet tomorrow. No one will ever be the wiser.

In fact, if you’ve got talent, skill and a little bit of speed, you can probably sleepwalk your way through 90 percent of the conditioning stuff that the Coach keeps talking about. Maybe it’s all for the second-stringers. The guys who don’t have God-given talent that you have. The guys who need to do grass drills because they have slow feet. The guys who need to do pushups because they aren’t very strong. The guys who need to watch what they eat because they don’t have a good metabolism.

You can think like that, and you can act like that, and no one will ever know. After all, the world’s a mighty big place. The Coach can’t be everywhere.

But if that’s how you approach things, think about this.

Somewhere, at another school, in another town, there’s a kid who’s your age and your size, and he plays the sport you do, and he’s got every bit of God-given talent that you have. In fact, we could put the two of you side by side right now, and you’d match up exactly equal.

But here’s something you need to know.

That very same kid is out there running full-bore sprints every single day. He runs them as hard as he can.

He never misses a weight lifting session, and when he lifts, he always goes for that extra rep. Some times he goes for two or even three extra reps. And he always tries to add weight to the bar.

He gets up every morning, rolls out of bed, throws on his sweats, and goes for a long run. He gets home about the time the sun is starting to climb over the horizon.

The Coach wanted him to do 200 pushups every day. He does 300.

He works as hard on his diet as he does on his training. He never eats anything unless it is going to give him energy to train, protein to grow, or vitamins and minerals to build his body. He doesn’t touch junk food or sweets. He can’t remember the last time he had pizza, French fries, a cookie or a candy bar.

Yes, the world’s a mighty big place.

But it becomes a mighty small place when there are two men running right at each other at top speed on an open field, one running for the winning touchdown and the other man the last defender blocking his path to the goal.

I’m older than you, and I’ve seen it happen over and over, and I know for a fact that this is going to happen.

It’s going to happen to you.

It’s all going to come down to you and him. Just the two of you. Right there in the middle of the field, in front of three thousand screaming fans.

You’re going to hit right there in the middle of the field, full force, one on one, with everything on the line. The whole season. It’s all gonna come down to this split second in time.

And that great big world out there shrinks right down to something small and tiny when two men hit try to occupy the same square foot of turf.

This will happen. I know it, your Coach knows it, and you know it.

So does the kid in the other school in the other town.

You will meet, you will hit, and one of you will knock the other one flat on his back right in front of the entire world.

Right now, I don’t know which of you is gonna end up making the play of the year, and which of you is gonna end up roiling in the dirt with tears in his eyes, crying like a baby because he missed the chance of a lifetime.

No one knows.

We don’t know, because we don’t know which of the two of you is gonna train harder.

It might be him. It might be you.

But it’s your decision…

-Brooks Kubik

Coach ed note: I am headed off to work out now. I figure I have probably had around 4000 leg workouts over the years. Probably squatted about every time. No cushy ineffective leg press or leg extensions. Guess what…………….at 54 I have absolutely no knee pain whatsoever. I train hard, I mean life or death hard, no matter who is watching. Off to the rack.

Thanks Bill Stanley for the throwback photo credit