Blog The Power of a Notecard Daily goals – Do you have any when you walk through your office door? If your like most people, chances are that you do. We all have some sort of small goals, medium-sized projects, and even the occasionally lofty (but still attainable) goals we’ve all been working on for too
Blog The Wisdom of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi > “One cannot lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ” > Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of
Blog 10,000 Hours > “The closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play…The thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s
Blog Something From Everyone A valuable lesson I was taught early on is that everybody has one lesson to teach you. If you approach all the people you meet with an “empty glass” approach, you’ll be more likely to walk away with useful information or a perspective that you otherwise wouldn’t have
Blog Your Energy Transfer > “The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.” - Lee Iacocca As a coach, your athletes will follow the tempo, pace, and energy of the coach. you set the tempo for the team; so set a good one! Find a strategy that works for you. I’
Blog Growing Future Leaders It’s our responsibility to grow future coaches as well as developing your own coaching abilities. You cannot do one without doing the other. It is vitally important to bring out the best in the people you work with. In our internship program, my mission is to develop the interns,
Blog A Leader's Oath The ladies came together gathering around the central pillar in our weight room to receive feedback from our strength & conditioning staff regarding the outcome of their mission. They circled up standing shoulder to shoulder while their hands were still covered in chalk and sweat still pouring down their faces.
Blog Leadership. It's a 24/7 Responsibility Being a leader isn’t a temporary job. It’s not season position or a typical nine to five. It isn’t a trait that you can turn on or off at your disposal. Being a leader is a permanent characteristic that defines a person. Coaches often ask for my
Blog Are You Making Yourself? - Nike Women I've wrote about Nike's "Real Women" advertisements in the past via this post here [http://www.adamringler.com/blog/nikes-new-ad-campaign-real-women/]. I've said this before and I'll say it again, what Nike is doing for women athletics is absolutely outstanding. Now,
Blog Why Are They Still Crunching? Why are athletes still crunching for core development but more importantly why are coaches still programming abdominal crunches and sit-ups? I don’t think both parties are doing it to spite researches like Stuart McGill, but I got to believe that athletes and coaches just don’t know any better.
Blog Stop Learning...Start Dying? What a fantastic quote by Lillian Smith. Too often coaches get set in a routine that becomes 'comfortable'. When you ignore current research, advice, science breakthroughs, in relation to your training programs, then it is time to die. Don't neglect research at the expense of comfort.
Blog Red's Coaching Blog I'm always excited to share the valuable resources that I use in order to better my knowledge and coaching quality. One of the most fascinating blogs that I religiously follow is Red's Coaching Blog, operating by Tim "Red" Wakeham from Michigan State University. Tim
Blog Preparing Athletes From the Neck Down & The Neck Up Be a Team Player Despite what the formal Wichita State Strength & Conditioning job description specifies, part of my responsibility is protecting the WSU teams’ integrity from opponents and from within. This may mean preparing the team for the physical and mental difficulties that they will face on the field/
Blog My Home Away From Home This is where I get the bulk of my program design, writing, implementation changes, research and education done. This is, quite literally, my home away from home. I wish I could say my office is Zen-like - it is not. It's a work in process but its fulfilling
Blog Grooving Movement Patterns Before Loading I often explain to athletes that our strength and conditioning program is much like the Tortoise and the Hare analogy. If we get overly concerned with adding weight and progressing before we have the proper movement patterning, than we're essentially adding fitness on top of dysfunction. Remember, weight
Blog Knee Valgus Angle During Landing Tasks in Female Volleyball and Basketball Players Having the experience to work with both the Wichita State Women's Basketball and Volleyball team, I find this article extremely interesting. While at first eye glance you may group the characteristics of these two athletes alike, because of the demands of their sport, they are really quite different
Blog Applying the Five Levels of Leadership What The Five Levels of Leadership Are Level 1: Position (Power) - Given by Company People Follow Because they Have to. Level 2: Permission (Relationships) - Earned People follow because they Want to. People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Level
Blog Did The Pendulum Swing Too Far? Did the Pendulum concerning physical therapy methods, prehabilitition, functional movements, and identifying asymmetries swing too far? Are we losing the strengthening of our Strength & Conditioning profession?
Blog Proper Programming, Movement Training & Recovery Efforts in the MVC Being in the position I am at Wichita State University, I get to witness and work with some of the most tremendous athletes in our conference and the NCAA. Being the associate strength and conditioning coach, I get to witness the full development of incoming freshman and help them mature
Blog Maximizing Your Time I open one eye to see the illumination of my alarm clock reflecting off the back of my white bedroom wall. I think to myself, "It must be that time". The clock reads 4:58 AM. This is early, no matter how you shake it. My body is
Blog Everything You Need For some people I know, they get excited and all revved up by watching videos of extremely fast & pricey cars. I, unfortunately, am not one of these guys. What really revs my engine and gets me all jazzed up is watching incredible athletes. I've applauded Nike over
Blog Protect Your Team I was once taught by a dear friend and mentor that things are "Always Earned, Never Given". It was dead in the middle of the day with several hours in-between the next team's training time. I have already met with coaches for the day, answered e-mails
Blog Protecting Your Team from the Sorrow of Defeat The best way to protect your teammates from the sorrow of defeat is never accepting excuses or ‘the easy way’ out of a tough situation. While it is important to protect your teamsmates from unnecessary struggle, allowing them ‘off the hook’ actually does more damage to the team than most
Blog It's Not About The Bike I recently read a great book co-wrote by Lance Armstrong titled, "It's Not About the Bike" in which Lance writes about his battle with cancer, the physical and emotional recovery afterwards, and his preparation to compete for the Tour De France. In his writings, he talked
Blog Win Forever: Pete Carroll I've been looking forward to this book for over a year. I had to pick it up on it's first day of being sold." Midway through my long duration morning run, I had to stop at a Barnes and Noble to pick up one of
