Explosive, Powerful, Fast Athletes: with Frank Lerchen & Kyle McKenzie

Athlete Performance Coordinator Frank Lerchen and Peak Performance Instructor Kyle McKenzie join us on The 29/1, providing a comprehensive look at the innovative approaches they've introduced to elevate West Ottawa’s Athletic program.

The Panther Strength program and Peak Performance Class are revolutionary approaches that focus on intentional training techniques, with PR bell celebrations being a highlight. These celebrations foster a sense of accomplishment and motivation among the athletes, contributing to a thriving athletic environment. The energy in the weight room is palpable, creating an atmosphere where students are eager to push their limits and achieve their personal bests.

The Litvinov workout, for instance, is an intense combination of heavy lifting followed by sprints, inspired by legendary Russian hammer thrower Sergei Litvinov. This workout is designed to build explosive power and speed, crucial for dynamic athletic performance. 

Middle school strength conditioning is another cornerstone of the Panther Strength program, laying the foundation for future success. This early exposure helps students develop proper movement patterns and build a solid base of strength, preparing them for the more advanced training they will encounter in high school. The long-term benefits of this approach are significant, as students are better prepared and more advanced by the time they reach high school.

The duo also tackle common misconceptions about in-season lifting. They emphasize that proper lifting protocols can maintain performance without risking fatigue or injury. The stoplight algorithm, for instance, is a tailored approach that adjusts the intensity of workouts based on whether an athlete has a game or practice. This individualized approach ensures that athletes can continue to train effectively while minimizing the risk of overtraining.

In summary, this episode provides a comprehensive look at the innovative approaches of Frank Lerchen and Kyle McKenzie. Their dedication to creating a thriving athletic environment at West Ottawa is evident in every aspect of their work. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of athletic performance and the holistic development of student-athletes.

This episode was recorded on September 26, 2024.

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Special thanks to Laura Veldhof Photography.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
My grandpa Gordon.
He had a boat and it got passeddown to me and I fixed it up
and this summer I unlocked theGrand River a little bit in
Grand Rapids and startedcatching some smallmouth up
there in enemy territory.
The Rockford rowing team is mynemesis.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
They won't stop going past me while I'm trying to
cast.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Oh that's great If the Rockford rowing team could
please chill out while I'mcasting.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
that would be great, Thanks.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hey everybody, this is Rodney Valinga with the West
Ottawa High School AthleticProgram and you're listening to
the 29.1 Podcast 29 sports, oneteam the show that brings you
into the lives of studentathletes, coaches.
You're listening to the 29.1Podcast 29 sports, one team the
show that brings you into thelives of student-athletes,
coaches and other faces in thePanther sports community,

(00:52):
bringing you the stories youmight otherwise never hear.
Join myself and AthleticDirector Bill Kennedy as we dive
in with you to get to know eachother a little bit better.
Hey everybody, each other alittle bit better.

(01:12):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back to the 29.1podcast.
It's a beautiful day on thelakeshore and we are more than
halfway through the fall sportsseason, and today we sit down
with neither coach nor player,but with two key pieces in West
Ottawa athletics.
They are not your typicalcoaches as they don't run
practice or coach teams onsidelines, but, as you say, bill
, they interact with morestudents than anyone in our
program.

Speaker 5 (01:32):
Yeah, today we sit down with West Ottawa athlete
performance coordinator, FrankLurchin and peak performance
instructor Kyle McKenzie to talkabout the Panther Strength
program and what it looks likebefore, during and after school.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
If you have an image in your head about what a weight
room is, it's time to startover.
It's 2024, and boy, things havechanged.
Intention, purpose and lifelongimpact are a few things that
come to mind.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
Frank Lurchin, kyle McKenzie coming up next on the
29.1 Podcast.
Let's get it.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
That's the sound you guys hear every day, almost,
don't you, ringing the bell PRs,baby 1% better, it's awesome,
it's a great energy up thereJust tuning in.
You recognize these voices.
We got two young, fit,energetic dudes in here today.

Speaker 5 (02:42):
Thanks, rodney, I really appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, I hadn't gotten to Bill.
Bill was my young, energeticdude.
Who is it?
Who might it be?

Speaker 1 (02:51):
We've got Frank Lurchin and Coach McKenzie, or,
as the Pete kids called me lastyear, big Mac.
I don't know how that happened.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Thanks for coming on the podcast guys.
We've got Frank Lurchin and wegot Kyle McKenzie Kyle McKenzie.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
Frank, you've obviously been a part of the
West Ottawa community for a longtime.
Kind of really, I guess.
Cut your teeth as far aseducational athletics is
concerned, here at WELL.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Quite literally.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
Yeah, and then Kyle, you're a relatively newcomer in
year two here with us.
Talk to us, maybe, about whatyou've been able to observe in
that brief two year time periodof coming in and being a part of
the West Ottawa community.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, when I, when I first came in, I mean just the,
the kids and the culture that Isaw a lot of really good kids
but kind of raw, like the firstday I remember of peak, just
kind of going, okay, so thisclass like kind of show me how
it's ran, type thing, kind oflet the kids kind of show me the

(03:57):
way.
And as I got my feet more wet,so to speak, or more sturdy, and
started to get comfortable, Irealized that there's a lot of
things that we could be doingbetter and just kind of seeing
that evolve and always give alot of credit to the seniors of

(04:18):
last year because they couldhave been coach killers and they
could have really, like,rebelled against what we were
trying to do, but instead theywent the opposite direction and
they really sunk their teeth inand bought in and kind of set
the path that we're on right now.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
And your position then is you're a physical
wellness teacher here correct.
Yeah, and also peak performance.
And then, Frank, you are theathlete performance coordinator
which is APC.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
You're not an MPC.
Not an mpc?
No, you would be nowhere.
Atc and apc.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah.
So and then basically, frank,you've been around here a long
time, getting to know you alittle bit over the years.
We always see people at westottawa from a distance right.
So even like kenzie, like we weI saw you at Unified Basketball
and I know your face a littlebit, but even today it's like,
hey, it's nice to meet you.
So you don't always knoweverybody.
Let's talk about you guys, justa little bit about who you are.

(05:15):
Frank, you've had a lot go onin the last two years.
I was talking to your wife,jamie, just yesterday and in the
last two years you've gottenmarried, you've bought a house
and you've had a baby.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yes, and took on this new role Right this new role
life-changing, Frank.
It's every aspect.
It's been a fun challenge, youknow, and I'm always about a
growth mindset and I think allof these things have kind of
helped shape me.
And about a growth mindset, andI think all of these things
have kind of helped shape me andI'll just continue to drive me
to to be a better man, to be abetter person, be a better

(05:49):
husband, be a better coach.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
And in your daughter's name is Viviana.
There was a thing you postedonline where there's like three
new babies in your extendedfamily, right?
Can you tell me about that?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, so we have, uh, my daughter Viviana, who's nine
weeks old, and then my nephew,who's also my godson, leo, is
coming up on a year now.
His birthday is right aroundthe corner, so that's super
exciting.
And then we have, so it's justthe two of them that are newborn
, okay, there's one that's alittle older, though, right.
Yep, and we got Ava, our13-year-old daughter, and then

(06:21):
my niece, who is gosh she's gotto be about 10 now.
So that's Cadence.
That's my oldest brother'sdaughter.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Okay, okay, because there was some picture I had
seen online where you guys wereholding three babies together.
Yeah, yeah, my cousin, mycousin.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Chelsea and her husband Joe just had a baby girl
, Poppy, so it'll be really coolto see Poppy and Vivi and Leo
all kind of grow up together.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
I love the short forms of the names, it just
happens so quick.
We will be calling her Viviana.
Vivi, I mean, it happens sofast.
And then, jamie, of course, isyour wife right?
I didn't know this, but Ididn't know.
She works at the Department ofMotor Vehicles, she does.

Speaker 5 (07:01):
Yes, she's the best out of everyone.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
She can tell vehicles .
She does.
Yes, she's the best out ofeveryone.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
She's she could tell you all kinds of stories.
I thought I thought you had ittough.
I'm like, oh man, but I wastelling her last night.
I'm like the department ofmotor vehicles, the department
of motor vehicles has reallypicked it up over the last I
don't know five to ten years orso.
I mean, what's your guysexperience?
It's I go in there, I go onlineand get my appointment set.
Walk in five minutes, I'm out,yeah, no, yeah, I think they've.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
They've heard a lot of good feedback for the most
part.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
I think there's some not kenzie uh, the detroit and
grand rapids area is not thesame well, there you go, it's
different all right, myexperience has not been.
Uh, very good all right.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, you got to start going to the one here in
holland because it's it's prettygreat.
And then we can talk about Kylea little bit too.
Kyle, whenever I've talked tostudents about you, they always
say they have a nicerelationship with you and all
that kind of stuff.
You don't have a baby, but youdo have two dogs, right?

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, yeah, how did you find that out?

Speaker 3 (07:59):
I have sources.
Tell me about your dogs man.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
So I've got a.
I won't say the species, it's along-haired chihuahua.
Her name is Grace.
Long story short, it was myex-girlfriend's dog, but when we
split I got the dog and then anEnglish Bulldog-Boston Terrier
mix called Sequoia, and thoseare my two crazy dogs.

(08:25):
That, yeah, they keep me busyat home.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Does two dogs equal one baby?

Speaker 5 (08:32):
No no.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Absolutely not.
My older brother just had hissecond and like yeah, dogs
aren't kids, by any means no.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
And you have a dog dog.
Yeah, we have Hendrix thegolden retriever at home.
Who's awesome.
I got him out for a walk thismorning.
Best thing, best part of my day, every day is getting home, no
matter how late it is.
He's ready to greet me, tailwagging, just want some
scratches behind his ears.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
How many great ideas have you had while walking your
dog A lot, yeah same.
It's like all of a sudden anidea will just come from just
walking for like a mile or soand you just start to develop
the idea as you're walking andthen you just hope that you
remember it.
Yeah for sure.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
Yeah that that today is a very busy day for me, Um,
as far as athletics is concerned, and to be able to get out this
morning and get that walk andyou guys, as folks who you know,
careers revolve around thefitness industry just getting
out and getting some energyexpended, was it's really
awesome for kind of my mentalclarity for the day.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Oh, it's the best.
My mental clarity for the day,oh, it's the best.
There's nights that I go homeand I am drained, tired, but I
can't wait to just like seeViviana and hope that she's in a
mood to get in the stroller andget on and go for a walk.
Yeah, and it's just just nice,and she loves the outdoors and
getting fresh air.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
So and you guys are both outdoorsman, right, you
both like to fish, yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Right, what do?

Speaker 3 (10:00):
you guys do in the summer.
For that, where do you fisharound here?

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah.
So I mean I try to get out whenI can.
Summers are pretty busy too,but going out on the big lake
doing some, you know, justdownrigger fishing fish for
salmon, steelhead, that sort ofthing.
So a little more, but I've beenskunked a lot frequently.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
Really.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
So looking to get back on the board.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
I'd like to do some small game fishing too, but I
know kyle's the small game basspro, how are you really uh?
So yeah, I got my, uh, mygrandpa gordon uh, he had a boat
and it was got passed down tome and I fixed it up and, uh, I
take it this.
This summer I unlocked the, thegrand river, a little bit in
Grand Rapids and startedcatching some smallmouth up
there in enemy territory.
The Rockford rowing team is mynemesis.
They won't stop going past me,while I'm trying to cast.

(10:55):
Oh, that's great If the Rockfordrowing team could please chill
out while I'm casting.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
That would be great Thanks.
Well, let's get into this withwhat you guys do professionally.
One thing I want to do first.
I was thinking about this, andthis is really more for the
listeners that are out there Ifyou grew up in the 80s or you
grew up in the 90s, you have avision in your head of what a
weight room is.
So we just said the word weightroom and you just thought of
something.

(11:20):
I want you to take that imageand just get rid of it right now
, because when we grew up, inthat time we're going to go
there and we're going to do ourbench.
We're going to do this.
It's going to be slow, there'sgoing to be a lot of time in
between sets, all that stuff.
That is not what is going on inthe year 2024.
And I'm so excited to talk toyou guys about what you're doing
.
You guys do a lot of similarthings, but they're different.

(11:43):
Can you explain just like realbriefly, what your contribution
is, and then maybe, kenzie, youcan do yours, just like in?

Speaker 2 (11:51):
a quick little minute .
Yeah, it'll be difficult tokind of wrap it all into a
little nutshell, but I thinkjust the strength conditioning
world has evolved so much.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
And you work with teams right.
They come in after school.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yep Work with a good majority of our teams and
programs are pretty bought in um.
So you know just the evolutionof your traditional.
You know bfs program that I hadin high school and I know a lot
of what does that?

Speaker 3 (12:13):
mean bfs, so you're bigger, faster, stronger I
thought I needed to edit thatout 10 5 3 yep, yep.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
So you know, I think science has told us so much and
shown us so much over the yearsas far as, uh, you know,
validated ways to train to buildexplosive, powerful, fast
athletes who move really well,yeah, I think is a big thing.
You know, like the numbers areimportant, getting guys and
girls stronger is important, uh,but if it doesn't transfer out

(12:41):
to the field, the court, the ice, wherever they play, um, you
know, then it's just you're justa strong body.
You know who, who can't reallymove, can't do dynamic things,
can't be an athlete, uh, and Ialways say we're not power
lifters, right, we're not goingout to compete for a one rep max
, uh, on a on a stage.
We're going out to cut, jump,twist, pivot, turn and do it

(13:03):
repetitively with high outputs.
So, you know, that's kind ofthe model and the backing of our
training is to move really well, right, and then get athletes
to be explosive, to be powerful,to be fast.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, and we'll get into this in a minute.
But you're generally thenworking with teams.
Teams are coming in.
They're seeing you with thePanther strength, right, it's
more of a team concept.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, yep, and we've got, you know, a good, good
chunk of teams that do theirindividualized team sessions.
Uh, some of those will overlapwith other teams, which is
really cool.
And we get multiple smallerteams, uh, that we have the
space for and they're trainingtogether.
Let's say you've got a, youknow, a girl's team and a boy's
team training side by side.
That's awesome Just for theculture and the camaraderie of,
uh, you know, 29 sports, oneteam all working together, um,

(13:46):
and and that's a lot of fun.
And then we've got classes thatoverlap.
You've got multi sport athletesin there is that more what
kenzie's doing, then?

Speaker 3 (13:54):
yep, like the performance with mckenzie and
newton yep okay.
So, kenzie, I was uh in yourstuff today, but but tell the
audience really what peakperformance is.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
So peak performance is a high-level strength and
conditioning class but we try tomake it not just the strength
and conditioning.
We try to do culture building,team building Right, because
it's designed to be athletes.
We have advanced strength andconditioning for non-athletes

(14:27):
that still want to pushthemselves in the weight room,
but this is more athletes thathave goals of competing for our
varsity teams at a high level orbeyond and really are bought
into pushing themselves in theweight room.
So that's kind of the overviewon what PEAK is is our highest
level strength and conditioningthat we have at West Ottawa, and

(14:51):
to get in there is a difficulttask.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
To even get in the classes.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, there's prerequisites and a lot of
requirements and you've got toput in the work and do the work
in order to stay and continue totake it.

Speaker 5 (15:10):
Yeah, we're what year ?
Three or four of peakperformance, I think is a class
offering here.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
And ultimately it came out of.
We've got all of these hoursduring the course of a school
day that we have the opportunityto get kids into the weight
room so that then they don'thave to worry about after school
getting into lift if they're inseason or even out of season.
Right, they've got their liftpart is taken care of during the

(15:36):
class day, and I think that'swhat ultimately will make us a
stronger athletic program iswhen we start to have a real
large percentage of our studentathletes lifting during the
school day.
Um, and really lightening theload in the weight room after
school.
Frank, because I know right nowI mean maybe just touch base on

(15:58):
what teams you're seeingthrough on a daily basis.
I look at the schedule everyweek and I'm blown away.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
We're seeing a majority of our in-season,
off-season athletes after schoolum, some before school those
were, you know, willing and ableto get up early.
Uh, come in for a couple ofmorning sessions Monday and
Wednesday.
But I mean, we've got girlsvolleyball coming through after
school.
We've got, uh, you know,baseball, softball training off
season.
We some football players thatare not in the strength classes

(16:26):
coming through.
We've got hockey, cheer, crosscountry boys and girls swim
tennis is doing their thing, yeptennis is is going over at
south as well.
Yeah, they're soccer boys soccercoming through.
You know I'm probably missingcouple, but we've got a ton of
teams, middle school programs,going over at the at Mac Bay

(16:50):
continuing to build things outat Harbor lights.
With that space nearing it's,you know it's opening, grand
opening if you will.
So yeah, I mean it's, it'sexciting.
The number of teams and kidsthat we have bought in our
challenge right now is just alot of.
It is in that afterschool slot,you know, and trying to get
more, more kids through duringthe day.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
Yeah, so space and time starts to become the
constraints of what we're doing,which makes me really excited
as an athletic director to knowthat we have so many kids that
want to get in that we actuallyhave to start thinking about
space right for those kids.
And I think getting those roomsdown at the middle school are
going to be huge for usabsolutely and just the, the

(17:32):
structure.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
You know I've kyle and I have talked about this too
, but what the kids get out ofbeing in the class versus the
after school, you're just ableto dive another layer, another.
You know.
In class you have a little morestructure, you have a little
bit more time so we're able togo into.
You have off days built in,right, they're in there five
days a week, you know, and youcan do what you want on those

(17:53):
recovery days, whereas afterschool I may see a team twice a
week and it's 30 minutes, 35minutes.
It's like bang, bang, bang.
We got to get in, get warmed up, get our bodies prepped, get
our lift in and we got to go, wegot to get to practice.
So there's not a lot of extratime to dive into the science of

(18:13):
RPR and some of these otherconcepts.

Speaker 5 (18:14):
We're just asking kids to you know, trust what
we're giving them and go all inwith it, but yeah, yeah, the
weight room itself is a reallynice space, to be honest with
you.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
So again, like just thinking about what weight rooms
are like and what they, it's anice big open space, like a big
rectangle really.
You got windows to the west sothere's lots of natural light in
there.
It's really nice that way.
And then there's 14 set racksacross the outside right, Yep,
so those are cool.
A lot of plyo in the middle.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yep, so we kind of keep our boxes and things stored
in the middle of the trap barsin the middle yeah, and then a
lot of free weights, a lot offree weights, a lot of
kettlebells, a lot of bands.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
So it's not like the kind of an old looking gym
either.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Right, it's a little bit different yeah, we've got
other implements, you know know,medicine balls thrown in there,
hurdles, mini hurdles, lasers,jump mats, so a lot of different
tools.
And I think some of the coolthings with the you know, the
lasers and the jump mats isgiving kids measurables, you
know, giving kids that instantfeedback of okay, I just ran a

(19:21):
sprint and there's my time,there's my speed, you know, now
I have a marker to competeagainst.
So you just see those outputsstay high.
You know, you see kids strivingto compete against a number,
compete against each other.
With the jump mats they can hopon, take two seconds, jump they
get a number.
Boom, there's my vertical, goplug it in.

(19:41):
And again, now they have.
We can run leaderboards, we cansee where we're at, we can hit
PR, celebrate those PRs, ringthe bell.
So it's been really cool to,you know, have these, these
measurables.
You know, and kind of taking aphilosophy in the strength
conditioning world from coachTony Hollers, is record, rank
and publish right.
So record data, rank it,publish it, put it out there for

(20:03):
the kids to see and then theycan kind of connect with us and
and do what they need to do tohelp reach their goals.

Speaker 5 (20:10):
And you've, you've seen the, the turnover really in
the weight room.
Rodney, you kind of alluded tokind of the spaces it sets.
Now, three years ago it did notlook that way when I first
arrived at west ottawa.
That room was full of hammerstrength um, lots of machines,
um I didn't know it changed thatmuch yeah, so it was really

(20:32):
kind of following.
It was a post code.
It was kind of during covid,because we had the sports year
just kind of ended right, so Ihad budget that was already set
to be spent.
So I was able to work with ourfinance office and say, hey,
here's something that we couldput this towards and really
reworked that weight room.

(20:52):
We got rid of all of kind ofthe machine stuff, and maybe you
guys want to talk about-.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
That was one of the first things I noticed.
There's no machines in there.

Speaker 5 (21:00):
Yeah, maybe you guys want to just talk about that
real quick.
Why free weights over kind ofthose machines?

Speaker 2 (21:23):
not that all those machines were horrible machines,
you know they could be usefulat the right time and place, but
they were just, uh, spaceeaters, you know, and really
isolated muscle groups.
So we're trying to get kids tounderstand athletic performance
and, I think, synergisticmovements, you know, getting the
entire body to work together,knowing that when I go, uh, to
try to jump in and make a turnand catch a ball, um, I'm not

(21:43):
just working one muscle right,I'm asking my legs to explode,
my core to turn and rotate andmy shoulders to remain stable as
I'm getting ready to take a hit, you know, or some sort of
contact.
So, you know, I think, applyingthat functional training piece,
you know, as far as differentstrength conditioning
philosophies, powerlifting,bodybuilding, functional

(22:05):
training, that's been theevolution of bringing in just
the racks and getting rid ofsome of those isolated machines.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, it's helped me with.
The kids will know the firstcouple days of class is usually
when Coach McKenzie takes hisfeet out.
It's usually when we're doingsquats takes his feet out.
And it's usually when we'redoing squats because I like to
teach it from the ground up and,like, you got 26 muscles in
your feet and they gotta, theygotta work and I was someone
that through genetics had twohip surgeries but really, like

(22:39):
went to a power liftingconference in columbus, oh, and
the first day I mean you hadguys that could squat 800.
And the first day we're talkingabout how to flex your feet and
like build your arch and howthat start that.
Yeah.
So how to like flex your feet,build the arch and how that kind

(23:00):
of locks in your knee stabilityand your hips stability and
working with free weights.
Then you have to engage yourcore a lot more.
What Frank was talking about,just all the different muscle
groups, how to create tension insome of the muscles that we
don't even see or you might noteven know that are in your body.
That creates stability.
So injury prevention is bigwith that as well, as when you

(23:23):
build those muscles up now, youcan start safely moving a good
amount of weight and reallybuilding towards that.
So with machines it's not bad.
But usually you see that withhypertrophy bodybuilding when
the goal is just how big can Iget this one muscle, and that
doesn't really translate tosport that well.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
No, it doesn't really at all.
You guys are veryperformance-based in what you're
doing.
I love the fact that youexplain a lot of detail on these
things.
I also want people to know thatour students are really taking
this knowledge that you'retalking about and they're
applying it to what they'redoing.
I was at peak performance todayand you guys were running first
of all.
What's that one with the sled?

Speaker 1 (24:05):
It's called a Lipvinov.
Coach Frank didn't create it,but it was his idea to put it in
.
He came to me last year andsaid hey, this is something I've
been trying to put in for awhile, let's do it, and I'm
never going to say no.
If it fails I'll raise my handand say that's on me.
But it didn't.
By the end of the year, thekids you know took a vote and

(24:26):
were like keep that in.
Yeah, that was really cool.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
Yeah, we're, we're gonna.
What we're gonna do now iswe're gonna do some audio.
So the first thing we're gonnado is we're gonna listen to uh,
senior senior evan alec, who isa football player and also is
lacrosse.
I believe they were doing asprints where I, uh, what are
they called?
You called them somethingearlier today, frank.
The sprint itself, the 10-yardflies, the 10-yard flies.
I was calling them the laserrace.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
Frank, I saw this laser race up earlier, but
anyways.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
So these kids are just this is on the track above
the gym and they basically getprepped to run.
They get this full sprint outand they're timing themselves
miles per hour.
This is Evan Alec, who was ateam leader and was running that
today.
Let's listen to him and what hehad to say about that 20.1.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
The ankle stiffness is just when your toe strikes
the ground.
The back of your ankleshouldn't 18.6, shouldn't really
Today 20.3, 18.3.
Not anymore, thanks, 18.4.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
You were close, yeah, but my ankle lied.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
No, it isn't.
When I sprained my ankle lastlacrosse season and they do a
lot of ankle work to increasethe stiffness in your ankle 19.7
.
Hey boy, when you strike theground with your toes, you want
your ankle to be stiff so youcan just pop right off.

(25:56):
You don't want your ankles tosink to the ground.
So a lot of people when theyrun they're really flat like
that, when in reality you wantto be striking with your toes
super hard and have really goodankle stiffness, especially at
the start when you're startinglike that, like it's really key
to not sink in and have goodstiffness to pop out.
But that's, that's just beenthe number one thing that's
helped me, uh, get faster speed.

(26:18):
So that's what I got anklestiffness wise.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
I see the pride in both of your faces hearing that
kid.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
That a boy, Evan.
Yeah, shouts out to Evan.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
Yeah, I see the pride in both of your faces as he's
talking through that so clearly.
Not only are your studentslistening right, but they're
absorbing this information andthen they're able to come back
and actually explain it tosomebody who's walking in for
the first time.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, no, that clip is gold, just Evan's explanation
of it.
And a really cool thing justlisten to the audio is you can
hear the force that kids areputting into the ground.

Speaker 5 (26:53):
Yes, you can.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
We talk about rate of force development into the
ground and you hear those hardground contacts.
Kids are starting to pick up onthe things that we're coaching
them on and teaching them.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
And they're dialed in like people are getting ready
and they're giving it everythingthey have coming through that
on the laser race it's so fun tobe part of.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
We're gonna have to change it on team builder laser
race.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
All right there's another thing we're gonna go to
now too, that the uh, the litvinoff.
Let's explain exactly what thisis again, just so we know
what's happening.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah, let's see if we can give you the best rendition
of it.
So I first came across these ata conference strength
conference with legendarystrength conditioning coach Dan
John.
This was in Niles, michigan,when I was still in AT Always
been super into the strengthconditioning world and I kind of
learned about Litvinov's alittle bit.
Um, sergei Lipvinov is a hammerthrower, russian hammer thrower

(27:50):
, which is kind of where theexercise originated from.
It's technically, I believe,it's like a squat or a hinge
pattern, so let's say, a frontsquat or an overhead squat, um,
or a, you know, a deadlift orsome sort of kettlebell swing
variation followed immediatelyby an explosive sprint.
Um, so Sergey Litvinov wasactually, do you know, like 405

(28:12):
pound front squat for eight repsand run a 400 meter sprint in
about 70, 75 seconds.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
What a contrast right .

Speaker 2 (28:20):
And 405 pounds, eight reps is insane itself, let
alone follow that by a 400 metersprint, rest, fully, repeat two
more times.
Um, so we've kind of takensounds like a Monday, right.
It's.
It's a workout in itself.
Just, you know, pairing twomovements like that, um, you

(28:41):
know, hitting it for for threesets.
If you need more than that, uh,typically there's something
missing.
You know, either the intensitywasn't quite there, um, you know
, hitting it for three sets Ifyou need more than that,
typically there's somethingmissing.
You know, either the intensitywasn't quite there, you know, we
didn't have enough load on thebar, you know, or we rested for
far too long.
So we've kind of put a littlevariation on it and doing some
sled pulls, you know, connectedwith different mentors of mine,

(29:04):
I know Coach Shermonte over atBC is a big mentor and he has
done some different things withLipnov.
So just kind of trying to learnand get ideas from other
coaches that have been doingthis for far longer than I have,
and I think we've had some somegood success with it and good
fun with it.
You know, last year weinstalled it for the first time
and kids responded really wellto it.
We saw some drasticimprovements in our 10 yard fly

(29:27):
times and I would say we kind ofuse it more or less as a
conditioning piece Now we don'tdo a ton of conditioning just
because time is always aconstraint.
But these are a cool way to tapinto that.
You know, aerobic capacity alittle bit and build our lactic
threshold but still keep thatexplosive power movement.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
All right.
Well, let's take a moment andlisten to a couple.
This is two students competingside by side doing the Lipman
off.
In the first one you'll hearFrank offering encouragement,
and in the second one you'llhear Kenzie.
Let's have a listen.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
Three, two, one, go, keep going, keep going, keep
going, keep going, keep going,go Go.
Only easy day was yesterdayKeep pushing, keep pushing, keep

(30:28):
pushing.
All right, three, two, one go,good, keep it up.
Keep it up, drop it and go.
Drop it and go high intent, gocatch him, catch him, catch him,
good, keep going.
Jonah, keep going, drop it andgo High intent, go Catch him,
catch him, catch him, good, keepgoing, jonah, keep going.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
This is really high energy stuff that's going on on
the track up at the top.
It's really fun to watch.
I spoke with Sebastian Gramich,a junior and a baseball player
here at West Ottawa.
This is when he finished oneand this is what he had to say.

Speaker 4 (31:06):
This is pretty hard.
I feel like you've got yourquads running.
You've got your quads going andthen, as soon as you try to
take off, you've got to regainyour stability, Get up where you
start sprinting all the wayaround the clock.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
This is pretty hard For somebody that never did any
of that stuff.
These kids are being hooked upto these sleds.
They're at a what?

Speaker 2 (31:28):
probably a 45-degree angle or more to start, so
they're just leaning forward,they're digging those feet into
the ground, pulling that sledand popping out into a sprint.
Yeah, just trying to apply someprinciples of sprinting
mechanics and just working onshin angles and those first
couple.
As soon as you release thestraps, you've got to catch
yourself from falling uh,similar to a falling start on a

(31:49):
on some sprint drills.
So you got to put some forceinto the ground on that first
step and and work on that quickacceleration to get your hips
through cool yeah, um, yeah, notto get like too sciencey, but
another go ahead, get toosciencey.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Well, you like doing two signs, don't you?

Speaker 1 (32:04):
yeah, no, I like to flex that.
I wasn't the greatest studentbut I know the word
post-activation potentiation,which pretty much means, like I
first learned about it, a guywas doing like a set of three on
a sumo deadlift with 600 pounds.
But then when you would doafter that a set of 25, pounds,

(32:30):
but then when you would do afterthat a set of 25, the load that
he could do after was muchhigher than like when he was
building up.
Because your muscles arepotentiated or they're ready to
go for those heavy loads.
So like after they're done withthis grueling, like it's like
10 or 15 yards of just draggingthis heavy sled once.
Once you drop that weight, nowyour muscles like the science
that's going on in your bodylike the first couple steps feel

(32:54):
like you're in quicksand.
But then all of a sudden youjust like take off and your legs
feel like butter and theyshould like.
We ran a couple last year justto have some fun and they were
like your legs get this weird,like, like tingling, like just
ready, but you feel so explosiveafterwards it's pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, they hit you a little bit different and I think
we've gotten that response fromkids in a positive way.

Speaker 5 (33:18):
You thought that walk with your dog was I'm going to
have to start getting in theweight vest, getting some squats
in before I get Hendrix out onthe trail.
Pick up the pace.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Get your post-activation potentiation
yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Some of the fun part.
You guys are very gracious Icould go into some of these last
couple days.
One thing I noticed a lot isyou do focus on letting them
take over.
You want it to be whether it'splayer-led or student-led.
You give them a lot ofresponsibility.
Can you speak?
Maybe Kenzie can speak to thata little bit.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah, so one of the changes that we did second
semester last year and I gotthis from another baseball coach
she was like the first femaleMLB like minor league coach and
she ran like a strength class.
when she was like the firstfemale MLB like minor league
coach and, um, she ran like astrength class when she was with
the Astros with, uh, someplayers and basically put them
into teams which is what you doyep, there's this like complex

(34:18):
scoring system, like even a lotof them were coming from
countries where she would say,like throwing garbage on the
ground was like a norm, so likethat would lose points for your
team because that's not part ofour culture.
So created like a scoringsystem with that, put them into
teams and each team has a teamleader.
And a lot of times, like thisyear, we were kind of having a

(34:42):
rough lift so I just pulled theteam leaders and said, hey, this
is what we're looking for.
Go back and address your teamand get them on point.
A lot of times I'll try toaddress it through the team
leader just to build thatplayer-led or student-led part

(35:02):
of athletics.
Like you know, every good team's, if it's only coming from the
coach, then it's.
We're just not a very good teamand so just across the board,
any dynasty and stuff, you seethat you have those team um
people that are going to goahead and take the realm or take
the reins before, uh, the coacheven has to say anything of

(35:24):
like no, we're drawing the line.
This is not how we do this here.
We don't do that type of stuffLike let's get to use Sam
Williams' quote get teed up.
He was a leader for us lastyear.
Sam's awesome.

Speaker 5 (35:39):
He'd always be like I got to get my team teed up,
tightened up like in line Frankyou talk a lot about intent,
right, and coming into the roomand there's, you know we've
raised the bar right.
It used to be that you couldcome into the weight room and
you could have any kind offootwear on new there's.
There's a certain standard nowto everything the way we
organize our racks.
But talk to us a little bitabout intent and what that

(36:01):
really means to you as kind ofthe overseer of the strength
program.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, I mean, I believe there's many different
variables that will change whatwe get out of a lift, right, you
know, as far as the volume, theweight on the bar, the
intensity of the weight.
Sleep, yep Time, rest time, youknow so, all these different
variables that can change what aworkout will do to our body,

(36:26):
all these different variablesthat can change what a workout
will do to our body.
But if the intent isn't thereunderstanding whether we're
trying to move a bar fast,understanding whether we're
trying to go max velocity,sprint, whether we're trying to
go absolute strength and we'renot as worried about the bar
speed we just want to see youmove some weight right and move
it within the standard withoutbreaking form.
That's knowing the intent.
So I think you know, think,when we get things really dialed

(36:47):
in, really the coach's job atthat point becomes because it is
so player-driven andstudent-driven they've got all
these little details down.
Now our job becomes explain tothem what the intent is if we've
changed, because it could bethe slightest little thing,
right, we could be doing oneexercise, we could be doing
squats and we might have fourdifferent intents on it based on

(37:13):
the time of year.
So if a student athlete canunderstand what the intent is
during in-season versus maybe anoff-season, they're going to
tap into the stimulus that wehope they get versus crushing it
, going too heavy, right, andthen go into their coach and say
their legs are shot because welifted too much in the weight
room, right, or not doing enoughweight and really not getting
anything out of the weight room.
Because there's a fine linethere and that's getting again

(37:35):
dialed in really specifically tothe science, which is you know
what we do and Team Builderhelps a ton with that.
On the programming, there's somuch work that goes in behind
the scenes to where we just tellthem trust the program, apply
the intent that we're giving youfor that exercise or that
plyometric drill.
We might have three differentintents for the same thing, but
it's yeah.

(37:55):
I'm a big believer that intentdrives results.

Speaker 5 (37:59):
Yeah, and control what you can control as a
student athlete.
When you walk in there everyday, right athlete, when you
walk in there every day, right,there's a lot of things that are
outside of our scope as far asthings as we can control as
young student athletes.
I might not be the strongestkid in there.
I might have all of this stuffthat I'm coming into the room
with every day.
You know home life, how I'veeaten over the course of a day,

(38:23):
but if I walk in there with agreat attitude and I'm dialed in
and ready to go, the world canbe my oyster, so to speak.
Right.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Oh yeah, we hope kids leave there feeling rejuvenated
, feeling, you know, like betterabout themselves, they've
accomplished something for theday, you know, especially if
they got early morning class.
You know you've got a coupleintro classes early in the
morning, kyle, and uh, you knowthey could get one of the
hardest things of their day done, you know, and that's a really
rewarding feeling for studentsto walk out of there and just

(38:50):
the endorphins and all the youknow.
Again we could get into thescience of what movement.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
There's so many paths to go down with this stuff.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
But, you know it releases so many good hormones
for their brains and theirbodies to go about the rest of
their day in a positive mood.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
Yeah, I mean anybody who's listening when we work out
.
We all know what that feelslike.
Right, you're having a bad day,go for a run, go work out,
whatever, do it in the morningwe feel better, and it's
intentionally being done here atWest Ottawa and that's amazing.
One thing, kyle, that I thoughtwas really cool going on your
Instagram for West Ottawa Peakis you have the championship
belt.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Can you talk about that based on the teams, how
they get that?
Give us some detail on that?
This is really, really a funpart of it, yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Should have brought the belt in, but yeah, I got on
the internet and found atrophy-like type website.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
That's a good one.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah, I spent like 90 bucks on that thing.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
It's like a heavyweight title belt really
yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
It was the youth model.
I couldn't afford the big one.
But yeah, that's the wholeteams thing is there's a grading
scale from the moment thattardy bell rings, like if you're
tardy then that's notacceptable.
We're losing points.
But there's also positivepoints and some leeway in there

(40:08):
and like one of them's effortand the thing that I'm finding
the hardest with this group islike it's redefining what effort
is, because what they give now,like our lift yesterday, would
have been like a world classlift for that first peak class
that I ran.
And that's on me as the coach,not on the kids.

(40:29):
I just I was new to it, Ihadn't run a weight room, it's
normal man, right, when youbuild something from scratch.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Yeah, so I'll take ownership of the fact that
You're too hard on yourself, man.
No, no, dude, you're lovedaround here.
You're doing great.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
No, around here you're doing great, I know I get
it, but, like we, we had goodlifts.
But like, yes, yesterday I leftthere, like it gives me energy
for the rest of the day.
So at the end of the week, ifyou have the most amount of
points, you get the belt and youget to hang the belt at your
rack for the entire next week.
Um, I've been letting the, thewinners, uh, refuel first and
the refuel station some addedthings you get, yeah, little
perks now no one's.
No one's done it yet, but theycould bring their phones up and

(41:10):
leave them at the podium,because we can't be on our
phones during class.
But they could, you know, takepictures with the belt for their
own Instagram or send it to meto put on the Instagram.
And that was something thatFrank did yesterday, not to go
on a tangent, but like let thestudents do a student takeover

(41:30):
and they got his phone and itwas just cool to see what that
team was capturing throughoutthe room, because us as coaches,
we see stuff, but it was coolto see what the students were
picking up on and what theythought was cool and what they
would want to broadcast toanyone that sees it.
So yeah, in order to win thebelt, you got to be pretty
locked in all week.
And the unfortunate part, justlike sports, you can be locked

(41:51):
in all week and still lose, andthat's a bummer, but it should
make you hungry for the nexttime around.
Not everyone wins.
You can play a perfect game andstill lose.

Speaker 5 (42:03):
Yeah, and the reward program has really become part
of Panther strength and kind ofwhat we do.
We recognize a couple ofstudent athletes.
Each month there's t-shirtsgoing out.
I saw, was it girls crosscountry?
Yeah, the whole team gotoutfitted with the shirts cause
they're so dialed in.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah, that that group is awesome.
Yep, um, you know the.
You know the shirts have beenone part of it where I was
actually having some of ourfemale athletes give me some
votes on you know colors thatthey would get excited about for
speed bracelets.
So we've been trying to do somespeed bracelets.
You know, the PR bell, justfinding creative ways to reward

(42:39):
kids for their, their hard work.
You know, within the scope ofwhat we can do, you know, in a
school day, but, yeah, justcontinuing to come up with those
creative things.
The belt has been awesome, Iknow, you know, mr Newton, coach
Newton did the Terminator thingwith the football program.
Just different, different funways to get kids engaged.
And we talk about competing asone of our core values.

(43:01):
Competing, you know, bringingpassion and energy and
everything we do, and I thinkthese are just other ways to get
kids to have fun competing.
Have fun competing with all thelittle things you know, like
who's going to clean up theirrack the fastest, who's going to
grab an empty box out of therefuel station and throw it away
for us?
You know little things likethat.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
Right, right For sure .
So, kyle, you had mentionedthat you know you can do all
this stuff and still lose, right?
One thing I want you know justpeople in general to know is
that this is a variable ofathletics.
So you have natural ability,you have coaching, you have team
chemistry.
This seems to me that is justone thing that we're going to

(43:43):
get really better at, and it'sone variable.
Yeah, it's not everything, butit's going to.
Whoever that athlete is, it'sgoing to enhance them, right,
whatever their abilities are.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
It's going to enhance their abilities.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
It's hopefully going to keep them away from injury.
So this is something that WestAuto is doing that can really
make a difference in the longterm, and I think the cool thing
about it is and you guys knowthis too like we're not going
back, like this is here now.
Yeah, isn't that cool.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
We're only going to keep growing, you know, and I
think the more kids get dialedinto this, it just continues to
replicate itself in other areasof their life.

Speaker 5 (44:20):
Yeah, yeah, I actually was.
I just talked to my dad lastnight and we were just kind of
he always likes to know kind ofwhat's going on at West Ottawa,
and we were actually talkingabout the strength program and
being able to push it down intothe middle school now and we're
not going to see the fruits ofthat labor for another couple of

(44:41):
years.
And for us as coaches andpeople that are involved in it,
we have to really wrap our mindsaround that.
Right, right now, our kids thatare seniors have been exposed
to the program for three years.
Think about the kid that's insixth grade right now.
Right, and he's over squattingat Mac Bay.
Yeah, and where is that kidgoing to be six years from now,

(45:02):
when they're a senior?
In this building, where thatfoundation is laid in those
middle school rooms.
And and think of what you guys,as coaches, are going to be
able to do with them once theyget here at the high school.
That is like exciting to me.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
Yeah, that's something that I'm excited about
as well of like some of thosefoundational pieces.
That it's not that we don'twant to coach them, but like
Frank said earlier.
You know time is a constraintbut, like Frank said earlier,
time is a constraint.
So if you don't have tonecessarily talk about proper
squat stance or how to breatheand brace your core, some of

(45:39):
these fundamental things thatneed to happen we can jump into
much more quickly I guess is theway to say it of like some of
the science-y stuff or some ofthe little intricate things of
how to tension your body whenlifting, but you can make that

(45:59):
adjustment in a day with someonethat already has the foundation
.
It's like, hey, try this cueand like they get it.
But like if you're spending amonth trying to teach someone
how to lift, that can eat up agood chunk of the semester and
sometimes you might not see themsecond semester.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Yeah, no, I think just kind of tying into you know
, the vision, long-term visionof the program is, you know, to
be recognized as one of thepremier strength conditioning
programs in West Michigan and Ithink to help get there it
ultimately I look at otherprograms in the state it's got
to start at the middle schoollevel, you know, in terms of
just movement patterns andunderstanding safety terminology

(46:41):
, reading a program, just thosethose basic things, so that when
they get to the high schoolwe're not having to go over all
those fundamentals.
Now we're talking bar speed,we're talking velocity-based
training, we're talking, youknow, heavier loads and recovery
and how to go about thosethings, and just diving deeper
into the science of strengthconditioning.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
So, frank, let's do.
I wanted to finish this podcastoff with things I'm hearing out
in the public.
So when we go and talk toparents or at sporting events
and so on, we hear differentthings and there's a we're going
going to pick like two of themmaybe, so we can just kind of
shatter this.
So the first one is even I, asa dad last winter.

(47:19):
I think Hudson was in yourclass last year then too, right,
so he goes yeah, I had a goodlift today.
I'm like, dude, you got to playbasketball tonight.
Like what are you doing liftingtoday?
So I'm a 55-year-old dad who hasthe mental of 1980s, 1990s
lifting Now in the weight room.
There's a sheets up in theweight room where there's I

(47:42):
don't have a varsity gametomorrow or the next day, and
there's a certain way you liftfor that.
The other one says I have avarsity game tomorrow and
there's a certain thing for that.
And the other one says I, Ihave a varsity game tomorrow,
there's a certain thing for that.
And the other one says I have avarsity game today.
So I saw you doing that todaywith Emmy O'Connell Kenzie.
Can you tell me?
She's a volleyball player,plays varsity volleyball.
What was the difference thatyou made her do today as opposed

(48:02):
to a regular day with herlifting because she's playing
today?

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, so based on that protocol that Frank put up,
I believe a game day would beall the sets except for the last
half, the reps and then theweight as prescribed.
So it's kind of tapping intowhat's called the minimum
effective dose.
So just giving them, let's go.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
Just giving them the MED.
Right, it's going to take youlong to figure that out, by the
way.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
It's like the other day we had some kids and it was
squatting.
It was Hudson and his tennispartner Hugh.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Irvine yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Hugh, yeah, and it ended up being like two sets of
two.
The first set's at 60% of theirmax, the next one was at 68.
And you know, four-second,second, eccentric and it just
kind of primes the muscles.
It's not going to fatigue them,it's not going to cause any
sort of damage to yourperformance, but it's giving you

(49:02):
that what's the least amountthat we can give you and still
create adaptation or still atleast keep the strength gains
that we had in the off season,right?

Speaker 3 (49:12):
so, yeah, so instead of taking the whole, day off we
had in the off season, right, soyeah, so, instead of taking the
whole day off, which would bethe old style, this is a little
bit different, where it's just alittle bit enough just to
maintain.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Yeah, yeah, and it's never concrete, right?
I mean, we call it ourstoplight algorithm.
This was actually an idea thatBill pitched over to me when we
first got going right andthere's so many good ideas out
there from coaches, so you kindof find things that work within
your program.
And I just thought this fitperfectly, because when I first
started we were having all kindsof issues with figuring out how

(49:44):
to adapt the program for thosein-season athletes and how to
tell them what to do.
Without making all theseindividual recommendations, we
can just build a program thatnow incorporates this algorithm
into it so that when a kid has agame day, we say, okay, you're
a, you're a red, you're a yellowor you're a green today, based
on that system, and then theycan kind of just simply, you

(50:06):
know, know the process and applyit to their really their big
compound lifts.
You know, any accessories wedon't worry about too much.
They're typically not superfatiguing.
It's more or less somepreventative maintenance work.
Uh, but our big squat, ourbench press, our deadlift,
things like that yeah, it's agood.

Speaker 5 (50:21):
It's a good thing for parents, because I remember
this I remember my high schoolbasketball coach always saying
you know, bill, why are youbenching?
It's it's game day.
I'm like coach, my shots bustedalready.
I got to get stronger.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Yeah, so that's the other.
that's the other thing that Ithink we touch on here is this
is really applied to varsityathletes, um, you know, so not
to say that our freshmen and ourJV athletes are not important
and their performance isn'timportant it certainly is, uh.
But I think you know,ultimately we want to play the
long-term game right andcontinue to develop athletes to

(50:52):
be those high-level performingvarsity athletes.
And so, you know, alwaystalking to a kid and just saying
, hey, you know, are you gettinga lot of minutes in the game or
are we not?
And those will be othervariables to factor in.
Okay, you've got a lot ofstress on the system, you know,
because you're playing a ton,you're taking a lot of contact,
or you're just getting a lot ofreps, or maybe we're not.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
We're not getting the minutes that we want right now.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Let's, let's keep lifting, you know, let's keep
getting strong.
Game day for one person is notgame day for another.
Sure Yep, so kind of knowingsome of those individual
individualized, um you knowmodifications, super cool.

Speaker 5 (51:24):
I think that's important for parents and our
student athletes to know as well.
Is that this the level ofprogramming that is happening
here?
It's not a one size fits allright, it is.
Every kid is treated as anindividual and they're going to
have their own kind ofindividual prescription.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Yeah, you have to, I think to, to make it the best
that you want you know you haveto cause.
All these kids are coming fromso many different backgrounds
with so many different stressorson their plate.
So trying to, trying to meetthe kids where they're at let's
do, uh, the exercise uh thing aswell.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
This is one thing I hear out there and we talked
about this the other day.
Somebody was doing squats and,uh, somebody mentioned, I heard,
squats are bad for you.
They're bad.
I'm doing the voice of theparent, apparently, but the uh
the squats are bad for yourknees.
You, you don't want to be doingsomething like that.
Yeah, sure, If we go back towhen it was.
I know I'm going back in time alot today, but I don't know.

(52:18):
It's my peer group, this is whoI hear stuff from.
Can you talk about how that'sdifferent now?
Right, we're not just goingthere loading up the bar with
way too much weight, with badform and doing squats with no
intention.
Can you guys explain how thatis different today?

Speaker 2 (52:33):
Yeah, yeah, I would say I mean we're not
prioritizing the weight over themovement right as one of the
biggest things.
Like we talk about form overweight or movement over maxes,
and I think with the squat inparticular, we've got
progressions, regressions toeverything we do, especially
those big compound movements.
So we'll start an athlete outwith a goblet squat, let's say,

(52:57):
and we're just kind of assessingtheir movement form.
You just said goblet squat.
You've got to explain thatbecause I don't know what that
is.
Yeah, so a goblet squat isanything with the word goblet
prefacing.
It is holding a kettlebellright underneath your chin.
All right, good now.
Or a dumbbell, and so ourgoblet squats, you know, kind of
.
Allow us to see how a kidsquats, how their knees track,

(53:21):
what their torso is doing.
Um, can they tolerate, you know, a quarter to half their body
weight and perform that for 10plus repetitions, with great
form.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
So you're just seeing their movement early, without a
lot of weight, and what they'renaturally doing, oh so they're
analyzing it, basically 100 andthey can get stronger.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
I mean, we could have , we could have seniors or
strongest athletes in the roomdoing a 100 pound goblet squat
and they'll it's gonna challengethe heck out of them.
So but that's, that's one ofour entry-level progressions and
when from there we can kind ofassess you know, are they ready
for a front squat?
You know, are we ready to takethem into a Bulgarian split
squat, or we call them rear footelevated split squats, regular

(54:00):
split squats and thenprogressing into a barbell back
squat.
But we don't have to.
I think the big thing to takeaway here and for parents and
students to know is that wedon't have to back squat all
year round to get stronger in aback squat.
We can get really strong on oneleg and the majority of your
sports are played on a singleleg.
You're running, you're jumpingoff a single leg.

(54:21):
You know walking.
Every step you take, you're ona single leg, right?
So we talk a lot about justunilateral strength.
Get really strong on one side,improve that balance, that
stability, that coordination,and I guarantee you'll get
stronger on two legs.
That's taken a long time forsome of our students to wrap
their head around, because theyjust want to get a big back

(54:42):
squat.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
It's kind of like the same thing in cross country
running, where you have thoselong, long, easy runs or easy,
long runs where that actuallyhelps build speed.
It's absolutely bizarre, but Imean for me as someone that's
listening, I don't know it's alittle bit of the same thing.
You're doing some differentthings that are going to improve
that, but it does not feel likeit at the moment.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Yeah, no, I mean talk to like Eliza Reynolds sticks
out to me.
you know we were doing some,some split squats and I think he
had 265, 245 on the bar,something like that, I mean
that's a heavy loaded splitsquat right and that's only
going to enhance his ability todrive a maximal load on a double

(55:22):
leg back squat.
The other piece is that wedon't use belts until we get to
a certain threshold right.
I'm big on and I think you knowCoach McKenzie and Coach Newton
would agree here like we don'tneed a belt until we get to a
95% load right, when we'rereally pushing a max set.
We try to engage ourintra-abdominal pressure and use

(55:44):
our internal belt, as I like tocall it.
You know everybody's body hasmuscles all the way around the
spine.
So learning how to engage thosefrom your, your six-pack abs,
your rectus to your obliques, toyour paraspinals, everything
around the back and then bracewith the pressure.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
So now you've got an extremely rigid spine that's not
going anywhere when we load itwith two, three, four, five
hundred pounds yeah, and I, I'mthe on the belt, like the belt
doesn't do anything for you ifyou don't know how to create
that inner abdominal pressure.
I think the old school I wasprobably alive for that but they
would just throw a belt ondoing curls or whatever.

(56:20):
Oh, it's going to protect myback.
Well, no.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
It was kind of one of the fun things about going to
the gym was putting on the belt.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
Bill knows this.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
Yeah, I'm putting the belt on.

Speaker 5 (56:29):
Just to walk around in it.
I was putting the belt on Justto walk around in it.
I was never a belt guy.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
Oh, you weren't.

Speaker 5 (56:32):
No, you guys also wore lifting gloves too, nope.
I didn't do that.
Got to get those calluses builtup, yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
I think there's definitely a time and place for
the belt and once they learnthose core fundamentals on how
to create that internal pressure, now we know how to use the
belt and actually push ourpressure into the belt, versus
slapping the belt on andthinking it's a bandaid you know
, synonymous to like a kneesleeve or something like that.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, things always change insport.
Things progress, things getbetter.
This is one area where itreally has, and it's nice to get
a little bit more knowledgeableabout it, because when you're
not in it every day, you justdon't know, like you don't know
what you don't know.

Speaker 5 (57:13):
Well and the program is still, I would say, in its
infancy, right.
I mean we're really three yearsin to building out a
comprehensive strength programhere.
You know the fruits of thatlabor we may not see for another
couple of years yet.
Obviously we're seeing it inour kids now.
I look at some of our programs.

(57:34):
Our soccer team way morephysical on the ball now because
they've dedicated time to thatstrength and conditioning
program.
The resiliency I find in our,especially our female student
athletes, and what they havegained in the weight room every
day is immeasurable.
Right, it's, it's a confidence.
Those teams like rodney I thinkyou saw the volleyball team in

(57:59):
a lift together, the confidenceand the camaraderie and the
chemistry within that team isonly stronger because of the
work that they do.
They're doing really hardthings every day.
Then you had all three levelsup there too.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Yeah, yeah, which was cool.
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
I didn't know that, yeah yeah, big shout out to
girls volleyball, they get afterit.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Yeah, I mean, we've got a lot of groups.
You know the, the cheer teamhas 50, 60 girls up there when
both all levels are up theretogether and, um, you know,
putting in a lot of hard workand and continuing to evolve our
, our program.
You know I don't know how manydance programs are invested in
the weight room the way ours is,uh, and those girls have seen

(58:40):
some really good turnouts withtheir, their performance.
But again, the confidence piece, just the, you know the life
stuff beyond just performance.
I think we get wrapped up inperformance so much, but this
stuff is far, far bigger thanyou know trying to get a kid to
perform well in their sport.
It's really we talk aboutcollege, career and life ready,
correct, you know this is lifelong wellness strategies on how

(59:06):
how to continue to stay strongand healthy mentally, physically
.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
Yeah Well, hopefully these programs will expand.
They'll get better as time goeson.
Let's talk about your socialsreal quick.
We got west ottawa peak andfrank champion zero three,
correct.
Yeah, these are both oninstagram.
If you want to keep up withwhat's going on with this, just
follow them on instagram.
They put posts up regularly.
It's pretty fun to just look atonce in a while.
You know I'm not trying to doomscroll all the time, but if I'm

(59:33):
gonna doom scroll, miles willbe west ottawa yeah, panther
strength's got a very strongtwitter following.

Speaker 5 (59:38):
As, I'm sorry, x following um as well yep, um,
and actually we got some littleshout outs from the detroit
tigers yeah, that was awesomeovernight.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
I saw that cool.
This is crazy yeah, baseballguys getting a lift in the other
day and and had we were able toget the game up on the benq
board, which is pretty coolthat's great to get excited, get
after it in the weight roomwhat's this?

Speaker 3 (59:59):
what's the size of that screen on that tv?
Uh board gosh, what is that?
It's big 80 maybe it's massive,it's massive you gotta
definitely use it for what youneed it for, but it definitely
deserves a sporting event nowand again.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
It's not every day the Tigers are in playoff
contention.
So, no, it's been a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
All right well that's been a lot of fun.
This has been a lot of fun Justsitting down with you, getting
to know you guys a little bitbetter.
It's been great and we wish youall the best to year-round
Awesome Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Yeah, thank you guys for doing this.
Thanks guys, All right, thanksfor coming on.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
Thanks for coming on 16-6.

Speaker 4 (01:01:03):
16-8.
There you go, Tooth.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
Are you still here?
If you are, you get to dosomething fun today.
If you enjoy hearing thesestories, help us out by sharing
it with somebody right now.
Hit that share button and texta friend, an old teammate,
somebody in your life who mightenjoy the listen.
And if you do it, you justbuilt community.
Thanks for listening and we'llsee you next week 14-4.

Speaker 4 (01:01:39):
13-7.