My workday via Chat GPT

This is just too funny. I had to ask Chat GPT this question as Bill Walton is on another planet and one of the most entertaining humans to listen to for a variety of reasons.

If Bill Walton and Dave Pasch were commentating on Ed Wietholder’s workday as a business owner and sports performance coach, it might sound something like this:

Dave Pasch: “Welcome back, folks! Today we’re focusing on Ed Wietholder, a business owner and sports performance coach. This guy wears many hats, Bill.”

Bill Walton: “That’s right, Dave. Ed’s juggling a lot of responsibilities, but he’s up to the task. He’s got the heart of a champion.”

Dave Pasch: “We can see that already, Bill. He’s starting his day off with some meetings with his business partners, discussing the growth and development of their company.”

Bill Walton: “It takes a team to succeed in business, Dave. And Ed’s team is looking strong.”

Dave Pasch: “But he’s not just a businessman. He’s also a sports performance coach. And it looks like he’s got some training sessions lined up for his clients today.”

Bill Walton: “Ed’s passion for sports is evident, Dave. He’s dedicated to helping his clients achieve their goals and reach their full potential.”

Dave Pasch: “And it looks like he’s not just coaching individuals, he’s also leading a team training session. This guy never stops!”

Bill Walton: “That’s the mark of a true leader, Dave. Ed’s got the energy and drive to keep pushing forward, no matter what challenges come his way.”

Dave Pasch: “And it looks like his day isn’t even close to being over. He’s got more meetings and appointments scheduled, and he’s still got to work on his own training.”

Bill Walton: “This guy is a machine, Dave. He’s like a well-oiled engine, firing on all cylinders.”

Dave Pasch: “And that’s the end of the day, folks! Ed Wietholder, business owner, and sports performance coach extraordinaire. What a performance, Bill!”

Bill Walton: “Absolutely, Dave. Ed’s work ethic and dedication are truly inspiring. He’s a shining example of what it takes to be successful in both business and sports.”

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BASKETBALL CASE STUDY IN EXCELLENCE

A Junior High School Basketball player name Gavin approached us to ask me to help him develop his game to be able to play at a higher level. After a functional assessment revealed some classic basketball imbalances we embarked on an interesting and what turned out to be record setting quest. Over the next 12 weeks we addressed inadequate knee punching, overstriding and inefficient shin angles and a lack of drive at the shoulders which can contribute up to 10% of an athletes “oomph” when they accelerate. We also woke up his hamstrings since we explained his brakes would be key as much as his engine. We also addressed back jumping where athletes try to recruit slow twitch fibers in the back mistakenly rather than the power legs and glutes. We also provided some suggestions for alterations to his strength program getting into rep ranges designed to encourage fast twitch and enhance intermediate twitch conversion.

We introduced some work on eliminating false step and reaction work to movement, sound and color. Acceleration and Lateral movement continued to be overloaded.

We covered transition steps that occur when you have to stop start, turn and lateral transition, etc.

It should be noted that this young man never missed a training session and always took care of strength training sometimes at the facility and sometimes on his own.

Excellent outcome.

12 weeks later…Vertical Leap +10inches………..10 yard dash……. .45 improvement……. shuttle .6 improvement

BASKETBALL CASE STUDY IN EXCELLENCE

A Junior High School Basketball player name Gavin approached us to ask me to help him develop his game to be able to play at a higher level.

After a functional assessment revealed some classic basketball imbalances we embarked on an interesting and what turned out to be record setting quest.

Over the next 12 weeks we addressed inadequate knee punching, overstriding and inefficient shin angles and a lack of drive at the shoulders which can contribute up to 10% of an athletes “oomph” when they accelerate. We also woke up his hamstrings since we explained his brakes would be key as much as his engine. We also addressed back jumping where athletes try to recruit slow twitch fibers in the back mistakenly rather than the power legs and glutes. We also provided some suggestions for alterations to his strength program getting into rep ranges designed to encourage fast twitch and enhance intermediate twitch conversion.

We introduced some work on eliminating false step and reaction work to movement, sound and color. Acceleration and Lateral movement continued to be overloaded.

We covered transition steps that occur when you have to stop start, turn and lateral transition, etc.

It should be noted that this young man never missed a training session and always took care of strength training sometimes at the facility and sometimes on his own.

Excellent outcome.

12 weeks later…Vertical Leap +10inches………..10 yard dash……. .45 improvement……. .6 improvement

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

GOING VERTICAL

If you know me you kind of know that I am a big fan of basketball. I watch it, I play it, I coach it. I have been intrigued for years to learn how to jump higher. If you think of many of the major sports, leaping can be a big aid in performance.
Let me take you through an empirical process by which my own vertical leap actually improved before my knowledge of plyometrics and modern training methods. As a sixth grader(1977!!), I rationalized that strong legs are legs that will let you jump higher. So with my cement filled plastic Ted Williams weights from Sears, I started squatting. I wedged my body under my bench press uprights for lifting off(I don’t recommend this!) and the strength building began.
I also rationalized that you needed to overcome your bodyweight to get airborne and thought that jumping out of trees, landing and jumping up again would help this. Pretty safe for a strong adult but a really bad idea for a sixth grader. Anyways we went up to frighteningly high heights and for safety’s sake I figured I better just land and stick when we got in the really high branches.
By seventh grade I was hitting the big loops of the basketball net, still squatting and still jumping out of tress like an idiot.
By 9th grade I had worked up to some pretty respectable poundages in the squat but was becoming pretty darn tight. I took up martial arts and with all of the flexibility work(dynamic and static) I was able to express more power(using strength in a hurry, more on this later). Kicking, flying and jumping is somewhat plyometric in nature and this helped as well. I was also developing some elasticity. Soon I was grabbing the rim.
Fast forward to college, with more squatting strength and some early knowledge of plyometrics that did not involve falling out of tees. One night at Grandview courts in Mount Washington, I went up and lo and behold, the ball went down for my first dunk.
If only I knew then what I know now! At the age of 36(we are up to 2002 now!), using an early version of our SFAS protocol my vertical leap peaked out at 36 inches. Let’s look at some key factors in developing some hops.
Power is the ability to exert strength in a given time frame. A good example is a vertical jump. It takes about .2 seconds for most athletes to go from flexion to extension at the knee before leaping. Why do some athletes that weigh the same amount and extend their knees in the same time frame jump higher than others? They can express more force via strength and motor recruitment in this time frame. Since strength is at the the root of power(CAN YOU SAY 2 AND 1 LEG SQUAT?), it is very important unless you are a very fast twitch dominant athlete with naturally dominant ability to recruit.
A program utilizing methods to minimize power loss through the torso should be used in conjunction with plyometrics. The key is stabilizing the pelvis, hip abductors, adductors, and external rotators. We also need to analyze your jump for proper knee tracking and to prevent what former Chicago Bulls strength coach Al Vermeil calls back jumping. The low back is comprised predominantly of slow twitch fibers and will not get you vertical fast enough. Glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps should be used to provide power for jumping.
Take advantage of what we have learned ! There is no time like now to become a better athlete! Get it done!

Vertical Leap Dreams

Power  is the product of force, therefore strength, and velocity. Power is the ability to exert strength in a given time frame. A good example is a vertical jump. It takes about .2 seconds for most athletes to go from flexion to extension at the knee before leaping. Why do some athletes that weigh the same amount and extend their knees in the same time frame jump higher than others? They can express more force via strength and motor recruitment in this time frame. Speaking of vertical leap, we can improve it here. A program utilizing methods to minimize power loss through the torso will be used in conjunction with plyometrics. The key is stabilizing the pelvis, hip abductors, adductors, and external rotators. We also need to analyze your jump for proper knee tracking and to prevent what former Chicago Bulls strength coach Al Vermeil calls back jumping. The low back is comprised predominantly of slow twitch fibers and will not get you vertical fast enough. Glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps should be used to provide power for jumping. Agility is the body’s ability to change direction while maintaining speed. We can show you how to pick up 2-6 inches in a surprisingly quick time frame. Good examples would include a collegiate lineman that weighs 275 pounds jumping 35 inches in the air.