Decade
The 2000s.
607 articles
Sport science meets the weight room — speed, safety, and testing. 607 BFS Magazine articles were published during the The 2000s, capturing how the BFS Total Program was taught and applied across 2000–2009.
Recurring themes include Football, Squat, Safety, and Speed. Coaches and writers featured here include Kim Goss, Dr. Greg Shepard, and Greg Shepard. Every story is free — read it online or open the original magazine layout as a PDF.
The Dark Side of Sports: Why PE Classes are Injuring Our Children
Why PE Classes Are Injuring Our Children A look at the steady increase in injuries in physical education classes Astudy that appeared in the September 2009 issue of Pediatrics reported that from 1977 to 2007, there was a 150 percent increase in the injuries that occurred in physi
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High-Tech Training at Sierra Vista Junior High
Where technology is making physical fitness fun Although video games and other forms of technology have been cited as major contributors to the decline in physical fitness among our nation’s young people, at Sierra Vista Junior High School such technology is key to getting kids in
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Secrets to Developing Rotational Strength
BY KIM GOSS Over the past decade there has been a trend in the strength coaching profession to distract athletes from getting stronger. I’m not talking about training that is augmented with complicated periodization programs that require a slide rule or at least a basic knowledge
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Consumer's Guide to Power Racks
Want the heaviest-duty squat cage sold anywhere? The BFS Heavy-Duty Super Cage is 8 ½ feet tall and has massive, 3 x 3 11-gauge steel construction. Practical advice on selecting equipment that is perfect for your weightroom At what point did weightrooms start to look like the sta
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Heisman Fever 2009
Heisman A look at another unpredictable Heisman Trophy race Photo: UT Athletics Anything can happen. I have one more chance, right?” were the words of Florida’s 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow, last year when he placed third in the Heisman balloting. Well, anything did happ
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Meet the Clinician: Evan Ayres
Meet the Clinician: The coaching life of one of our most experienced clinicians Evan Ayres with his wife, Danielle, and his two sons, Baylor, age 6, and Charlie, age 4. Conducting a BFS clinic is an amazingly rewarding experience, one that motivates young athletes not just to tra
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The History of the BFS Total Program for Athletes
Breaking personal records with perfect technique is key to the BFS Set/Rep system, as shown here in this photo taken at a BFS clinic. Total Program for Athletes Why BFS is still on top after 33 years BY DR. GREG SHEPARD, FOUNDER/CEO BFS You can’t argue with success. More than 9,0
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BFS Position Paper: The Power Clean
The Power Clean Why BFS encourages all athletes to perform this valuable exercise Although the power clean has become a mainstay in the conditioning programs of most athletic programs, many coaches are still reluctant to incorporate it into their training programs. Alternatively,
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Capital Results at Capital High School
A look at a great unified program Our signature success story in BFS involves a school that has been doing poorly in sports, and then quickly starts enjoying success after implementing the BFS total workout program. We call these stories our “Worst to First” articles. But there is
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2009 BFS High School of the Year
BFS High School of the Year Aztec High School wins BFS’s prestigious award Aztec High School’s motto is “Where the crossroads of academic excellence and opportunity meet.” BFS concurs, and we are so impressed with Aztec High that we selected it as our 2009 BFS High School of the
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Blueprint for Success: Baltimore Public Schools
Blueprint for Success: Baltimore County Public Schools How one school district is leading the field in PE and athletic fitness When you think about outstanding sport programs, undoubtedly you think about the state championship titles, exceptional athletes and passionate coaches mot
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What's Happening
Bobby Doyle: Starting Strong We recently heard that Bobby Doyle will be a starting slot back this year for the Naval Academy. Doyle, who appeared on the January/February 2008 cover of BFS magazine, got a great start in his early athletic career with BFS. Doyle is the son of BFS c
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The Dark Side of Sports: Troubling Trends in Coaching Youth
BY DR. MARC RABINOFF Istarted teaching physical education in 1969, at a time when the fields of physical education and coaching had status, value and parental support. But over the past four decades I’ve seen a decline in popularity and status within these fields, with a steadily
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For Women Only: Hard-Core Fat Loss
TRAINING & EQUIPMENT Baylie Divino (left) and Makayla Betz (right) are Level 10 gymnasts posing in front of a hard-core training tool that can help make serious athletes lean, a BFS Push/Pull Sled. Alternative views on the fastest ways athletes can improve body composition BY KIM
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Preventing ACL Injuries in Women Athletes
Women athletes in sports such as soccer, basketball and volleyball are up to eight times more likely than men to suffer ACL injuries. Preventing ACL Injuries in Women Athletes Valuable advice for reducing the risk of incurring this devastating injury BY KIM GOSS Although virtuall
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Saving Big Bucks with Plate-Loaded Equipment
The 3-Way Hip Sled is a plate-loaded machine that enables the user to perform the leg press, hip thrust and squat. Year after year, it has been a consistent bestseller for BFS. Saving Big Bucks with Plate-Loaded Equipment How to get the quality weightroom equipment you want for l
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What's New at Utah State
This BFS 3-D rendering of the Elite Half Rack stations at Utah State shows this is a weightroom for serious athletes. at Utah State A weightroom makeover inspires a winning attitude. Function dictates design is the best way to describe the recent makeover of the Utah State varsit
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Meet the Clinician: Bob Bozied
Meet the Clinician: A look at one of our most experienced clinicians One word that is often used to describe a BFS clinician is loyalty. Our clinicians are dedicated to the sound training concepts of the BFS Total Program workout and to the ideals of the character education progr
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The BFS Five-Day Workout for Basketball
How to fine-tune the BFS program for basketball ILogan Aronhalt started the BFS program in the sixth grade and became the all-time leading scorer at Zanesville High School in Zanesville, Ohio. He now attends the University of Albany, where he plays guard and forward. f you just we
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BFS Position Paper: Strength Training for Women
Team BFS member Maegan Snodgrass teaches the squat-style clean to Voinnie Pataialii from Hunter High School in Salt Lake City. Strength Training for Women Guidelines for helping women fulfill their athletic potential With all the information available about strength and conditioni
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American Football, Italian Style
Italian Style The making of an overachiever: Brock Olivo Brock Olivo has always been an overachiever. Olivo attended St. Francis Borgia Regional High School in Washington, Missouri. From the first time he stepped onto a high school football field, Olivo realized he had neither th
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What's Happening
Below, far left: (L-R) BFS president Bob Rowbotham, Pro Elite president Eric Snowden, Luigi Tani and Sandro Ciccarelli. Sandro translates and publishes many BFS publications in Italy. Below, left center: BFS clinician Jeff Scurran talks to a group of coaches at the BFS booth. Bel
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The Dark Side of Sports: ThinkTwice Before You Write
Think Twice Before You Write A look at a controversial article about overcoaching When determining professional standards, pertinent articles that are published in peer-reviewed publications are considered very important factors. One such publication, and in fact one that I subsc
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The Space Saver Rack Solution
If there’s a best-kept secret in the exercise equipment industry, it would have to be BFS’s Space Saver Rack. Although many of our competitors have tried to copy our unique designs, no one has figured out how to come close to offering a heavyduty unit of this quality. The unique
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Develop Athletic Superiority with Contrast Training
The BFS Push/Pull Sled is ideal for performing contrast training, one of the most effective ways to improve running speed. How to use the science of motor learning to make athletes faster and more powerful BY KIM GOSS One of the first things I look at when I visit a coach is thei
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2009 National High School Power Clean Championships
Power Clean Championships Student-athletes shattered records in four weight classes this year The power clean is a great measure of the overall power of an athlete, and that means there were many tremendously powerful athletes who competed in the 2009 National High School Power C
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Meet the Clinician: Lance Neven
BFS clinician Lance Neven with his son Tucker, who is getting a head start on his athletic career with BFS. n his bestselling book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell discusses the concept of the “10,000-hour rule,” which states that it takes 10,000 hours of work to become an expert in vi
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BFS Position Paper: Strength Training for Young Athletes
Young athletes need to get a head start with the BFS Readiness Program. Strength Training for Young Athletes The risks and benefits of having preadolescent and adolescent athletes train with weights When someone starts lifting weights seriously, we often say that this individual h
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Coaching Winners at Colby High
It’s been said that the Midwest is sometimes a bit behind the rest of the country when it comes to trends and breaking news, but that may not be such a bad thing in this time of recession. Especially if you’re a studentathlete at Colby High School in Colby, Wisconsin. “The summer
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Unified Success at Louisville High
Being an athletic director is a challenging job in today’s recession: Not only do you have to deal with budget cuts, but the parents and community still demand a high standard of excellence. In Louisville, Ohio, Louisville High School is ranked fourth from the bottom in the state
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2009 BFS Male Athlete of the Year
Male Athlete of the Year Multi-sport champion Jared Abbrederis wins BFS’s highest honor Balance. If there is one word that best describes Jared Abbrederis, that would be it. A senior at Wautoma High School in Wautoma, Wisconsin, Abbrederis has achieved an admirable level of balan
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What's Happening
Maegan Snodgrass won the Junior National Weightlifting Championships and will be representing the United States at the Junior World Championships in Romania in June. Team BFS Lifter Makes World Team Competing in her first national competition in three years, Team BFS weightlifter
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The Dark Side of Sports: The Cost of Cutting Corners
The Cost of Cutting Corners You can’t bypass safety when training athletes In the current economic crisis, coaches and owners of facilities are looking for ways to reduce the costs of doing business. Unfortunately, a lot of unwise decisions are being made that can end up being re
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A Closer Look at the BFS Elite Half Racks
The BFS Elite Rack with Platform enables athletes to perform all the BFS core lifts and many auxiliary exercises in one place. BFS Elite Half Racks The BFS way to space-efficient weightrooms Prior to the creation of the strength coaching profession several decades ago, gyms usually
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Secrets of Speed: The BFS Push/Pull Sled
Running and resistance training are two basic components of virtually all sports conditioning programs, and one of the challenges to strength coaches is finding activities that do both at the same time. This concept is known as specificity of training. Specificity refers to worki
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The Undefeated Never Rest: Coaching Utes Football
Taking over a losing program is always a challenge for a coach. How do you change the offense and defense, if at all? How do you motivate your players to develop a winning attitude? What areas need to be focused on in the strength and conditioning program? But the question on Kyl
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Meet the Clinician: Ray Cosenza
Meet the Clinician: Our clinicians are the heart and soul of BFS, and this issue highlights a clinician we are particularly proud of: Ray Cosenza. His extensive educational background includes a BS in physical education and a master’s in psychology. As for his athletic background
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The Answer for the Busy Coach: Computer-Aided Workouts
is divided into three categories: The Based on an athlete’s current n our current economy, schools are Ironman Ranking shows the athlete’s being forced to downsize personnel, maxes for each exercise, Knowley’s performance in the core lifts, while the software program sets up chal
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BFS Position Paper: Plyometrics
Plyometrics Practical guidelines on how to implement this valuable training method Plyometrics can have great value in improving speed, jumping ability and overall explosiveness. Athletes who work hard in the weightroom but neglect all other forms of training, especially plyometr
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Spreading Success Around: The Auburn Rockets
Photos: Mark Seliger 2008, SeligerPhoto@aol.com Spreading Success Around: The Auburn Rockets Every athlete is a winner at this Massachusetts high school At BFS we love stories about football teams that go from cellar-dwellers to champions, and you don’t get much better than the s
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2009 BFS High School Female Athlete of the Year
Hannah Donnerberg is a country girl with a shining past and an even brighter future There are many factors that go into our selection of the BFS High School Female Athlete of the Year. The winner should excel at multiple sports, succeed academically, be of high character and work
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Rising from the Ashes: Huntley Project High School
Early in the morning of September 18, 2008, a fire set by arsonists destroyed much of Huntley Project High School. The library, the gym, three offices and nine classrooms went up in flames. Jay Santy is the head football coach at Huntley Project High School in Worden, about 20 mi
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What's Happening
Ed Gowins Ed Gowins is a running back from Bellport High School on Long Island who was featured along with his championship team in the September/October 2006 issue of BFS in an article titled “Business As Usual at Bellport High.” In high school Gowins power cleaned 315, squatted
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Reflections of a BFS Clinician: Rick Bojak
Rick Bojak A frank look at the changing face of high school sports In 1995 Bojak was named Utah Teacher of the Year, an award that earned him a trip to the Oval Office and congratulations from the president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Rick Bojak has enjoyed a career in hig
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The Dark Side of Sports: A Legal Library for the Layman
A Legal Library for the Layman BFS introduces an exciting series of books to help make sense of the legal system If you’ve watched People’s Court, Law and Order or even Night Court and you believe you’ve got a good grasp of how the legal system works, think again. The truth is th
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Beyond Aerobics: Another Look at Step-Ups and Lunges
A new perspective on exercises that can make a difference in athletic performance Ever since Gin Miller created step aerobics, step-ups and lunges have been associated with aerobic fitness and general lower-body toning exercises for women. Perhaps this connection reflected negativ
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Space Efficient Equipment: The BFS Solution
The major problem with our weightroom is that we just have too much open space,” is a comment we just don’t expect to hear from high school coaches. As a matter of fact, we’ve never heard anyone say this! Without question, every high school coach would like a bigger weightroom. A
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Training Secrets of Mixed Martial Arts Fighters
Mixed Martial Arts Fighters A backstage pass into the controversial world of this popular combat sport Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a combat sport that is unquestionably the fastest-growing spectator sport in the world. The Ultimate Fighting Championships were created in 1993, gen
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Meet the Clinician: Paula Davis
Meet the Clinician: A look at a great role model for young athletes At BFS we’re proud of our clinicians. All of them have considerable coaching experience and great personal stories that we believe will inspire young athletes. Case in point: Coach Paula Davis. Davis joined the B
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BFS Position Paper: The Parallel Squat
The Parallel Squat BFS guidelines on the benefits and risks of this popular exercise The parallel squat is one of the most effective exercises that can be performed in a strength and conditioning program, but it is also one of the most controversial. Many of the concerns about the
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The BFS Five-Day Workout
Organization is key to any successful athletic program. One way that BFS helps coaches plan their athletes training is with hands-on clinics. Five-Day Workout A closer look at the classic BFS off-season and in-season workouts Failing to plan is planning to fail,” an expression cre
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The Unilateral Power Press: BFS Bench Press Variation
BFS Bench Press Variation: The Unilateral Power Press A closer look at a superior upper-body pressing exercise The bench press is a BFS core exercise and is at the top of every strength coach’s list for its ability to develop overall strength in the pectorals, shoulders and trice
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State Champions: Parma High School
High school football programs often have their ups and downs, and for three years Parma High School in Parma, Idaho, was definitely experiencing a down. They’d won only two games in 2004, three in 2005, and two in 2006. That’s when Greg Asbury took over as the athletic director a
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The Power of One: Rosemont High
The Power of One: A team approach to athletic success keeps this football program winning Going into the first game of the 2008 football season, coach Jeff Erdmann had reason to worry. As Rosemount High School’s head football coach, he was starting a new quarterback who had been
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Small Town, Big Dreams
BY JEFF SCURRAN, BFS CLINICIAN As I drove into Wautoma on Highway 21 from Oshkosh, signs that read “Small Town, Big Dreams” were on every storefront and marquee. These were hefty sentiments from this tiny Wisconsin town, which had fallen on such hard times with their schools’ spo
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What's Happening
L-R: Coach Doug Ekmark, Lloyd Busch, Tom, Jean Busch, Dr. Greg Shepard Here is what BFS Founder/CEO Dr. Greg Shepard had to say about Tom Busch when he was selected as the 2003 BFS Athlete of the Year, “I have done a lot of interviews in my career of writing articles for BFS maga
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Championship Weightrooms
A look at a progressive rehab and training facility for athletes In the past, talented athletes could often reach the highest levels of performance by just practicing their sport a few times a week – and throwing in some calisthenics and a bit of running at the end of practice. B
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BFS Position Paper: Safety and Liability
PHYSICAL EDUCATION B F S P O S I T I O N PA P E R Safety and Liability BFS guidelines on how to keep your athletes safe and minimize the risk of legal trouble There is a common but unfortunate belief that when it comes to the possibility of getting sued, coaches have little to wo
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The Next Step in Functional Training
With the help of some Photoshop magic, here are a few of the numerous exercises that can be performed on the BFS 4-Stack Functional Trainer. Functional Training How a revolutionary multi-use station can provide a solution to crowded weightrooms pace: the Final Frontier…” These wo
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A Closer Look at the BFS 8-Foot Power Rack with Platform
BFS 8FOOT POWER RACK WITH PLATFORM The evolution of two great pieces of weight training equipment The barbell is the basic tool of resistance training. With just this single piece of equipment, athletes can make significant physical transformations. Two additional pieces of equi
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How to Armor-Plate Your Lower Back
A strong lower back is needed to make great tackles, such as this one of Joe Cerrone of Wayland High School in Wayland, Massachusetts. Wayland went 13-0 in 2006 and 10-2 in 2007. ow much can you deadlift?” is a question not commonly heard in the sports media when it comes to inqu
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Meet the Clinician: Wade McGee
Wade McGee A look at a remarkable coach of young athletes Coach Wade McGee (left) receiving Coeur d’Alene Tribe Chairmans Award of Excellence from Chief Allen. Wade McGee is one of those rare individuals who enrich the lives of everyone they meet. One of our newest clinicians, he
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The AB Block Schedule Solution
When the BFS program was first implemented in high schools 32 years ago, classes were primarily set up in block scheduling. A typical class would last 45-55 minutes, three times a week, for the duration of a quarter or semester schedule. The BFS program was set up to fit into suc
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BFS Position Paper: Unification
Unification BFS guidelines on why and how to implement this important training concept Unification is the concept that all high school and middle school athletes, and even some college athletes, will follow the same basic training philosophy. This means that regardless of the spo
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Revolutionary Weight Training at South High
The Rebel weightroom is comparable to what you’d expect to find in a college facility. It’s over 6,000 square feet and includes eight squat stations, six lifting platforms, five glute-ham developers, three plyo ramps and 12 dot drill pads. Wow! Revolutionary Weight Training at Sout
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2008 BFS High School of the Year
BFS High School of the Year Photo: Bil Bowden, York Daily Record/York Sunday News Susquehannock High School earns BFS’s most prestigious honor Susquehannock High School is a great place for young men and women to get an education. Along with its challenging academic program and c
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Alabama Goes BFS!
How this Southern state is leading the field in coaching certification Strength and conditioning certifications are a relatively new educational offering in the United States that grew out of the demand for more specialized training in this field. While the college educational syst
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What's Happening
Bobby Doyle: Navy Strong Our January 2007 issue featured Bobby Doyle on the cover, and his performance since that time is proof that there is no sports jinx associated with being on the cover of BFS magazine. Case in point: the 2008 meeting between the Air Force Academy and the N
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Dark Side of Sports
A brief history of the evolution of the legal process in sport and human performance BY MARC RABINOFF to develop coaches and fitness his January, Bigger Faster BEFORE AFTER trainers. Many of these programs, Stronger, Inc., will be unfortunately, did not adequately releasing the f
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Concept to Completion
Farrington High School This Hawaiian school knows how to treat its athletes Michael R. Gangloff was a tight end at Farrington High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated in 1991 and went on to become president of MIRA Image Construction. The following year Randall Okimoto, who’
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The Knee Injury Solution
To prevent knee injuries, a sound strength and conditioning program is a must. Shown with one of the basic tools for success is Alise Larson, a sophomore at Hunter High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. Solution Secrets to decreasing the risk of knee injury in athletes Acontinual c
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The Truth About Periodization
Team BFS weightlifter Maegan Snodgrass used a Bulgarian periodization model prior to breaking the School Age American record in the snatch. Maegan hopes to compete in the 2009 National Championships. Why much of what you think you know about this important training concept is jus
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BFS Launches New Website
Greg Minear and Richard Knowley used the latest in high-tech computer technology to develop a great website for BFS. A pictorial essay behind an internet service that takes sports education and customer service to the highest level BY KIM GOSS Every business has a website. Some a
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Heismann Fever 2008
Heisman A look at another unpredictable Heisman Trophy race Wthe pace that enabled him to throw for 3,286 yards last year, many sports writers have placed Texas’s Colt McCoy, Missouri’s Chase Daniel and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell as the win college football’s most prestigious aw
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A Closer Look at the BFS Unilateral Power Press
BFS UNILATERAL POWER PRESS Taking your athletes to the next level with this valuable exercise machine Are you someone who thinks that machines have no value for an athlete? While BFS believes that most of an athlete’s training should be with free weights, there are many machines
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Certification: It's More Important than You Think
Quality education is key to becoming a successful instructor, whether it is in physical education, personal training or strength coaching. The rise and fall of continuing education for coaches If you ever have the good fortune to meet Glenn A. Morris or to take one of his weight
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Coming on Strong: Mission Oak High School
A great weightroom is giving this new school a head start Mission Oak High School in Tulare, California, is a brand-new school that opened its doors to students on August 14, 2008. The first students are freshmen and sophomores; next year juniors will be added, and after that, se
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Sky High Volleyball at Lakeside High
Jan Mitchell is the head volleyball coach at Lakeside High School in Plummer, Idaho. In her first year with the Lady Knights, her team went 13-0 in the North Star League and added three more games in winning the Mullan Jamboree tournament. This would be quite an accomplishment fo
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Restore the Roar: Selma High School
As with all levels of sport, in high school athletics everybody loves a winner. That includes the parents, the student body, the administration and the media. Justin Fowler is the head football coach at Selma High School, where, at the time he was hired, the program was on its wa
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What's Happening
High School Football Power Clean Record Breakers Because the power clean is one of the best total-body core lifts for football, BFS has developed a keen interest in those schools that have achieved the highest standards in this exercise. We look at the number of players on a team
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Concept to Completion
Photo: Julie Shipman, jshipman@csolutions.net Completion A closer look at the weightroom at Roland Hall-St. Mark’s School Although private schools are not generally known for outstanding weight training facilities – some are little more than glorified jungle gyms near the locker
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The Dark Side of Sports: Pom-Poms and Broken Necks
Pom-poms and Broken Necks What must be done to stop the devastating epidemic of injuries in cheerleading BY DR. MARC RABINOFF It is impossible for me to put into words the emotions I experience when I am called into a courtroom as a forensic expert for cases with high school chee
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Hard "Core" Training Made Simple
Made Simple The next step in functional abdominal training BY KIM GOSS straight and you stopped the movement when they reached 90 degrees, that would be considered the external range of the exercise. If you were to start from 90 degrees and curl the barbell to the top position, t
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The Forgotten Secret to Jumping Power
Jumping Power How shock training can jumpstart your athletes For more than 32 years BFS has promoted plyometrics for all levels of athletes. The reason is that plyometrics is a powerful training tool that can significantly improve speed, power and overall athleticism. Unfortunate
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Sam Baker Goes Pro
Photo: USC Sports Information First-round draft pick Sam Baker is ready for the NFL The typical football player will end his playing career in high school – and that’s not such a bad thing. Playing as part of a football team, even if you never make it to the varsity level, can be
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Strong Women: It's About Time
Chloe Van Tussenbroek is a multi-sport athlete who uses weight training to make her strong and lean. She competes in Olympic weightlifting and is a Level 10 gymnast with a 27.6inch vertical jump. The 15-yearold attends West Jordan High School in West Jordan, Utah. women’s sprinti
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Rediscovering Chins and Dips
Chins and Dips Now there is an easier way to perform these great auxiliary exercises Just look at the upper back muscles of gymnasts, athletes who use chins and dips as key exercises in their conditioning programs. And how about all those magnificent Greek Olympians of ancient ti
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Praxis: A Coming-of-Age Training Center
The past several decades have been the age of the monster health club. Tens of thousands of square feet, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cardio and hightech weight training machines, hot tubs, saunas and…well, you get the idea. Praxis Olympic Weightlifting Center is not
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The Dark Side of Sports: The Legal Dictionary Part 2
The Legal Dictionary: Part 2 Legal terms you need to know: K-Z In continuing from last issue’s column (May/June 2008), Dr. Marc Rabinoff put together the following list of important legal terms that will be used in future articles about safety and liability. liability: An obligat
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What's Happening
Like Father Like Son Like Brother Thirty-five years ago while attending BYU, Anders Arrhenius put the shot over 65 feet and earned All-American honors for that event. At that time BFS founder/CEO Dr. Greg Shepard was the strength coach at BYU. Many years later, Anders’ son Nik se
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Inside a Be An 11 Seminar: Skyline High School
Be an 11 Seminar: Motivation keeps this Utah school on cloud nine Skyline High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a nice place to be a student – Newsweek named it as one of the top four percent of U.S. high schools. But it’s an even better place to be a football player. In the ’9
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What Athletes Need to Know about Protein
BFS: Why did you write this book? LM: I had written a fairly extensive series of articles on protein for a website, and it seemed logical to expand that series (which makes up most of the technical information in this book) into a more comprehensive book. BFS: Who is the book wri
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America's Strongest Kicker
Sorensen’s best official kick is 62 yards, and he will be wearing blue and white for another four years when he enrolls at BYU this fall. America’s 345! Justin Sorensen’s unique training methods have made him the best kicker in the country Ah, kickers… Nobody really knows what to
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2008 National High School Power Clean Championships
Pat Mendes was once again the King of the Power Clean. A football player from Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mendes broke his own national record with a lift of 350 pounds. Power Clean Championships The fourth edition of this popular event brought out the talent If the
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A Closer Look at the BFS Flexibility Program
BFS FLEXIBILITY PROGRAM Flexibility is as easy as 1-2-3-4 We’ve found, after giving thousands of BFS clinics over the past three decades, All athletes, not just gymnasts, need to stretch daily. Showing extreme flexibility is Mary Beth Lofgren, a Level 10 gymnast who represents the
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A Closer Look at Shoulder Shrugs
SHOULDER SHRUGS Tips on getting the most out of this valuable exercise The best alternative is to use a tends to limit the range of motion of he trapezius is probably the Hex bar, as the design of the bar posithe exercise. most underrated and neglected tions your hands at your si
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Strong Beginnings: Longhorn-Warrior Youth Lifting Program
Bill Gill is the type of coach that athletes remember, with a passion to help kids fulfill their physical potential and achieve their dreams. But after 20 years, the chronic pain of a degenerative disc disease became too much for him to safely instruct at this level. Although his
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The Utah Utes' Power Tennis Program
The days of champion tennis players such as John McEnroe dominating the court with their touch and ball placement are gone. To win today – at the professional level and the college level as well – tennis players need more than just good endurance. Case in point: world number two,
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Go Speed Racers
How a premier skiing academy makes its athletes strong for the slopes To excel in a sport such as skiing, you need to have good coaching and follow a good conditioning program. To compete with the best skiers in the world, you need to have great coaching and a great conditioning
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What's Happening
Photo: UNC Athletic Communications BFS Success Story: Tyler Hansbrough One of the most exciting basketball players in college is University of North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (pronounced hands-bro). Only a junior, Hansbrough has made the covers of the major sports magazines and
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The Dark Side of Sports: The Legal Dictionary Part 1
The Legal Dictionary: Part 1 Legal terms you need to know: A-J For this issue’s column, Dr. Rabinoff put together the following list of important legal terms that will be used in future articles about safety and liability. affidavit: A written statement made or taken under oath b
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Beyond Calf Raises: A Few Words with Dr. Michael Ripley
BY KIM GOSS In every profession there is always a group of experts, gurus if you will, who are a step ahead of everyone else. There are the computer hackers who see algorithms and matrixes that are invisible to others, musicians and artists who find unique ways to express the hum
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Developing Power, (and Much More!) with the Plyo Bar
BY KIM GOSS When I was serving in the Air Force in the ’80s, I was approached by one of the best tennis players in the military who wanted to know more about plyometrics. I happened to have a videotape on the subject that demonstrated many box jumping exercises, and I loaned it t
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Run Faster, Jump Higher with the Reverse Hyper
The next generation of reverse hyper machines makes this great exercise even easier to perform BY KIM GOSS One of the latest trends in the world of strength and conditioning is “training the posterior chain” – that is, working on the major muscles located on the backside of the b
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Jeff Scurran Receives National Coaching Award
Jeff Scurran Receives Scurran preparing his Santa Rita team before a big game, and then joining the team in a post-game celebration. National Coaching Award BFS clinician is honored for his amazing coaching accomplishments with young athletes Bthree football coaching DVDs: Buildi
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The Final Exam: 2008 NFL Combine
Photo: East Carolina University SID Once again the best college football players faced off in Indianapolis to determine the biggest, fastest and strongest The fastest 40-yard dash at the 2008 NFL Combine was 4.24 by running back Chris Johnson of the University of East Carolina. Jo
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Smart Talk about Super Germs
An expert on germs answers important questions about a growing concern among athletes most troubling threats facing humans today are indeed coming from the world of germs. Today’s news headlines are full of true-life horror stories about germs, specifically the antibiotic-resista
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A Closer Look at Advanced Box Jumping
ADVANCED BOX JUMPING The next level of plyometric training One of the most effective methods to improve explosiveness is plyometric box jumps, as applied in the third phase of the BFS Plyometric Program. And the most advanced form of box jumping is called depth jumps. The Russian
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2008 BFS Female High School Athlete of the Year
There are some who believe that it’s not possible to achieve the highest levels of athletic and academic achievement at the same time. After all, there are only so many hours in the day, so you have to focus on one or the other. Proving this theory wrong is DeAnn Pertz, a senior
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A Closer Look at the Power Snatch
BFS PROGRAM The power snatch works the same muscles as the power clean, but does so through a greater range of motion. Shown with great form in this exercise is Utah State University gymnast Maegan Snodgrass, who represented Team BFS when she broke the School Age American record
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28-0! Eden Prairie High School
The Eagles are proving that With 3,100 students, Eden Prairie High School is the largest high school in Minnesota. Last year the school was ranked by Newsweek in its list of the top 1,200 high schools, and 71 percent of the school’s teaching staff hold master’s degrees or higher.
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Back to Basics at Newman Catholic High
Mthis made us realize that we were not following the BFS program exactly. We had gradually made some changes to the program that we thought would work better. As a result, we were getting athletes who were lifting too Mason City Globe Gazette photo ike Dirksen is the head footbal
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What's Happening
Overcoming Obstacles: Anthony Robles When it comes to overcoming obstacles, you can’t get much more inspirational than Anthony Robles, a freshman on the wrestling team at Arizona State. Anthony has only one leg, but he doesn’t let that hold him back. When he was five years old he
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The Dark Side of Sports: The Value of Certification
The Value of Certification What the legal system thinks about the value of certification QUESTION: Does having a strength coaching or personal training certification decrease your liability in the weightroom? ANSWER: First, to add some context to my answer, you should know I’ve bee
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The Case Against High Pulls
High Pulls Insight into a popular exercise that is, at best, worthless Former U.S. super heavyweight champion Shane Hamman performing high pulls in training. One of the most common story lines in fitness magazines is to warn readers about dangerous, or at least inferior, exercise
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What's Shaking with Vibration Training
The bottom line on a new type of exercise To boldly go where no one has gone before is the famous Star Trek motto and is one that we’ve informally adopted at BFS. Besides promoting a simple, sound training program for young athletes, we like to explore many of the exciting new ad
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The New Fight Against Bacteria
The locker room at the Washington Redskins’ training facility gets treated with a product that will help prevent staph infections for up to three years. The revolutionary, long-term answer to the growing microbial contamination problem It’s been said that extraordinary claims req
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The Evolution of Endurance Sports
Endurance Sports A world-class coach explains the best way for athletes to go the distance kids and 300 adults. Club in Aurora, Illinois, but he also n the ’80s there was a group of In regard to training methods, travels across the world to work indiendurance-sport athletes and Z
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A Closer Look at Box Jumping
It’s a given that speed and jumping are key components of athletic training, and it’s also a given that plyometrics is an effective way to develop both of these qualities. But how to implement a plyometric program, especially in a high school setting, is a bit of a mystery to man
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A Closer Look at the Glute-Ham Raise
GLUTEHAM RAISE The one-stop answer to training the posterior chain What would the field of strength and conditioning be without buzzwords? Core training, functional training – every few years someone invents some new term that coaches start bringing up in everyday conversation.
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