Author
Matt Shepard.
24 articles
Matt Shepard contributed 24 articles to BFS Magazine, from 1998 to 2002 — part of the coaching voice that shaped the BFS Total Program.
Recurring themes include Football, Squat, Power Clean, and Bench Press. Every story is free — read it online or open the original magazine layout as a PDF.
CHISAGO LAKES WILDCATS
At the end of the 2000 football season, the Chisago Lakes coaches knew that if they did not want a repeat of their 2-7 win-loss record, work had to start immediately. They designed a master plan and set it in motion early in the off-season. By sticking to their plan and, of cours
Read
MAKING A CHANGE
In 1998 Ron Hamamoto became head football coach at Rancho Bernardo, a Division 1 high school in San Diego, California. Up through the 2000 season, the Broncos struggled to maintain a .500 win-loss average. Then Hamamoto made a call to BFS. A clinic was scheduled, and BFS Vice Pre
Read
MAKING IT HAPPEN: Tucker Lane
On a crisp 1988 November day in Delta, Colorado, 5-month-old Tucker Lane met his future. During a break at the wrestling camp he conducted, legend John Smith sat baby Tucker on his lap. John's 1984 Seoul, Korea, Olympic gold medal caught Tucker's eye and eventually found its way
Read
TWO MORE WINS: Peru Central H.S.
Peru High School won the 2001 Class B New York Championship and credited it to their BFS Clinic last year and to the BFS Total Program. BFS: Coach Ewald, when did you start the BFS Total Program with your team? Head Coach Larry Ewald: We started doing parts of the BFS Total Progr
Read
GOLDEN EAGLES SOAR TO NEW HEIGHTS (Naples High School)
For centuries, Mongolian tribesmen in Kirghizia (south-central Russia) have hunted from horseback using a Golden Eagle called a Berkut. It has earned the title Baddest Bird on the Planet as it hunts and kills wolves for sport. A Berkut will rocket from the air and drive its tal
Read
MORENCI MIDDLE SCHOOL
Coach Dan Hoffman has been acquainted with BFS since he was playing high school football in 1981. He continued football through college and saw all the various training methods athletes brought with them. Coach Hoffman recalls, I kept some BFS principles and also picked up a lot
Read
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE (Anthony Pearson)
Although I was only 12 at the time, my first reaction was You're not going to take my leg. After 6 weeks and a confirmed diagnosis, I made the decision to do the surgery. I had turned 12 years old on June 15 and the surgery was on the 31st of July, 1995. --Anthony Pearson ___
Read
SPEED + STRENGTH = VICTORY (Baker H.S.)
Baker, Montana is a small rural community of 2,000 people. Through hard work and dedication to perfection, the Baker High Spartans' put together an extremely impressive football team that breezed through the first six games of the season with a perfect 6-0 record. With game numbe
Read
ROSSVILLE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Coach Wright embraced the BFS Program and went to work on his athletes. Wright recalls, we began to meet at 6:15 each morning for our workout prior to school. We had almost 100% participation each workout day. An excellent work ethic was formed and the Rebels were getting poise
Read
MEASURING SUCCESS: The Just Jump or Run
It is relatively easy to come up with point after point on why it is important keep accurate measurements of your athletes speed, jumping ability, etc.; however, it isnt always as easy to find the best, quickest, and most accurate ways to do all of this measuring. For the past 1
Read
CONWAY SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL, KS
When Mark Bliss took over as the head football coach at Conway Springs High School in Conway Springs, Kansas the team had only won one game in seven years. Coach Bliss recalls, It was obvious they were lacking a solid weight program and most coaches will tell you that to be succ
Read
ATTRIBUTES OF A GREAT COACH
If you ask any coach why they enjoy their job so much one might quickly reply, I enjoy the unmatched feelings I get with a victory over a tough competitor. Another might say,I like the constant need to devise clever strategies or I like to see well thought out plans perfectl
Read
ALLEGAN HIGH SCHOOL: All-Sport Unification
The old way of thinking was that the football team had their strength program, the track team had theirs, the wrestling team had theirs, and so on. Each team had a different program because they each needed to work on different things because they are different sports which
Read
MICHAEL BUTLER
Adversity is something everyone has to overcome every once in a while in life. However, some people are faced with more adversity than others. Sometimes the best way to find a persons true greatness is by looking at what they overcame. Not by what they accomplished. This is a st
Read
MT. ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY: Vermont State Champs
Mt. St. Joseph's Academy has a total enrollment of only 200 students; only 96 of which are boys. That doesn't leave a huge selection for Coach Brian Grady to pull from for his football team but apparently that didn't matter. He was able to get an incredible 41% of those boys on h
Read
MEASURING SUCCESS: The Just Jump or Run
It is relatively easy to come up with point after point on why it is important keep accurate measurements of your athletes speed, jumping ability, etc.; however, it isnt always as easy to find the best, quickest, and most accurate ways to do all of this measuring. For the past 1
Read
COLBY HIGH SCHOOL: Wisconsin State Champs
For the Colby High Football Team, winning was viewed as a nice addition to what they really valuedpersonal growth. The Colby Hornets not only came out of the season as well tuned athletic machines carrying the Wisconsin State, Division IV, Championship Trophy, but also possessin
Read
ADRIEN CLARKE: Shaker Hieghts HS, OH
100% discipline, intensity and consistency in everything I do! is the answer I received from Adrien Clark of Shaker Heights High School in Ohio when I asked him how he achieved such great success. In football, Adrien has earned the honors of All-American, All-State, All-League
Read
FROM GOOD TO GREAT
Rob Castleman has dedicated his life to the learning and mastering of the field of sport-specific strength and conditioning. He coaches football in Oregon, plays on a Semi-Pro team, works as a strength and conditioning coach/personal trainer and is currently a counselor for at ri
Read
JOSH BRYANT: Everything he does is for football
Last May, Josh Bryant decided to enter the U.S. Bench Press Open. He had an idea that he was strong, but exactly how strong he didn't even comprehend. Josh competed in the 220-242 pound class for the 16-17-year-olds. What he accomplished astounded all who witnessed the event. He
Read
GETTING AN EARLY START
During the month of May, a copy of the 1998 summer edition of the BFS Journal was circulating around Bloomington South High School in Bloomington Indiana. It featured the BFS Football All-American Team. "I was proud," said sophomore, Robbie Shirley, " to find that the Panthers we
Read
THE HEX BAR
WHAT IS THE HEX BAR AND THE HIGH HEX BAR? The Hex Bar is a modified bar designed for a bio-mechanically correct execution of the Dead Lift. Some use a Trap Bar which is similar in function. The Hex Bar is 45 pounds and constructed of cold rolled steal bent into a hexagonal shape,
Read
BASEBALL POWER: Miami Dade Community College
The Miami-Dade Baseball team was good, but exactly how good was yet to be proved. Coach Steve Hertz and his team had it in their hearts that they were the best and they were out to prove it. Coach Hertz is a man well acquainted with the smell of victory. He is a coach that produc
Read