Topic
Track & Field.
565 articles
Throwers, sprinters, and jumpers. The BFS Magazine archive holds 565 articles on Track & Field, published from 1980 to 2014 — coaching how-tos, athlete profiles, and program stories drawn from five decades of the magazine.
Recurring themes include Squat, Football, Speed, and Safety. Coaches and writers featured here include Dr. Greg Shepard, Kim Goss, and Greg Shepard. Every story is free — read it online or open the original magazine layout as a PDF.
Balance of Power
In this remarkable sequence of photos taken by Pam Tabone, Myles McKinney demonstrates tremendous jumping power. McKinney is the starting tailback and leading receiver at Churchville-Chili, a high school near Rochester, New York, which was featured in our September/October 2007 i
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Physical Superiority Made Simple
When the strength coaching profession was in its infancy in the 1970s, it was difficult to find information about periodization. Much of the material appeared only in articles published in expensive journals or a few hard-to-acquire books, many not available in English. All that
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Building Girl Power at Hayward High
Hayward High serves a student body that comes from a wide geographical area, quite rural. For some students, it’s a 30-minute commute via their parents to school; for others, it’s a 15-mile bike ride. So, when a student commits to playing sports as a Hayward Hurricane, it means t
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BFS Expands in many regions. Team BFS Growing Strong!
BFS Expands in many regions. Are you ready to lead the way? BFS is a company built on the idea that we are helping athletes succeed. Since our humble beginnings in a garage in Salt Lake City in 1976 BFS has been committed to the idea of coaches helping coaches. Now as a nationwid
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Upgrade Your Coaching with the Six Absolutes
In the coaching profession there is an overwhelming amount of information available about biomechanics. If you want to know the optimal position of your thumbs at the start of a 40-yard dash, you could probably find some research study on it. Although these details are important
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Power Clean Meet Enters 11th Year
If you like Las Vegas and you love power cleans, then this spring, you need to head to the Entertainment Capital of the World. That’s when the best high school athletes compete in the WK$QQXDO 1DWLRQDO+LJK6FKRRO3RZHU&OHDQ &KDPSLRQVKLSV The quality of competitors grows e
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Justin Sacco Getting Back on Track
Justin Sacco performs an advanced balance exercise at the BFS Science Lab. Justin Sacco Getting Back on Track How this remarkable young man overcame a serious brain injury In the fall of 2013 Justin Sacco, an eighth grader at Mahopac Middle School, suffered a serious brain injury
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2014 BFS High School Female Athlete of the Year
Female Athlete of the Year Abby Lealaimatafao is the winner of our most prestigious award With athletic benchmarks being established every day in our high schools, it’s extremely difficult for students to excel at the state level in any single sport. It’s even more exceptional to
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Big Men Can Squat
WHAT’S HAPPENING 3KRWRFRXUWHV\RI7UDYLV.ZRN)ORULGD Big Men Can Squat In the 1980s when BFS staff began training the Utah Jazz, they immediately found that these extremely tall athletes often had trouble performing basic exercises such as the squat and the power clean. It’s o
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Running Faster: The Tools You Need
than if they eing able had tested to run fast their vertical is a key jump before athletic quality that squat that virtually all workout. athletes want to Here’s how it develop, especially works. those who play Let’s say field sports such as an athlete is football and soclifting
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Character Education NOW!
BFS founder Dr. Greg Shepard is shown at one of his inspirational Be an 11 seminars, a character education program he created. Now! What coaches, athletes and parents will experience at a Be an 11 Seminar Those who know about the BFS organization associate it with strength and co
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2014 BFS High School Male Athlete of the Year
Braden Smith is a 6-foot-6, 294-pound lineman who is one of the most highly recruited football players in the country. 2014 BFS High School Male Athlete of the Year Braden Smith is this year’s winner of our most prestigious award Braden Smith is a wanted man. He is wanted by Alab
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11 Practical Ways to Increase You Athletes' Vertical Jump
The power clean is considered a vertical jump with weights, so it’s a great exercise for improving an athlete’s vertical jump. Shown here is University of Florida’s Devon Walker, a 6-foot-6-inch sophomore for the Gator Basketball Team. As a high school senior, he was the Winter H
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Box Jumping: Do It Right!
BFS PROGRAM Austin John Ryf is the 2010 BFS Male Athlete of the Year. He is a graduate of Winneconne High School in Winneconne, Wisconsin. In these photos Ryf shows how vertical jumping ability is an essential athletic quality in both basketball and football. Box Jumping: Do It R
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Protein Powder Gets an Upgrade
If you’re serious about playing on the gridiron, you need high-quality protein – and lots of it! A new protein powder that helps athletes achieve physical superiority ince BFS was founded in 1976 our focus has been on strength, conditioning and character education. It still is, b
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Power Weight Training
A look back at the basic ideas that have made BFS so successful for nearly four decades BY DR. GREG SHEPARD, BFS FOUNDER 3KRWRE\%UXFH.OHPHQV Mike McDonald is a powerlifter who during the ’70s held world records in the bench press in four different bodyweight categories at the
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Total Program Success at Ferris High
hat an awesome start these last three years have been for Aaron Emeyabbi, the athletic director and head football coach at Ferris High School in Ferris, Texas. The school has experienced a huge turnaround since Emeyabbi took over the athletic program three years ago and implement
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BFS Scholarship Athlete Presses On
Since winning the 2012 National High School Power Clean Championships, Brittanie Mastricola has been making great progress in the sport of Olympic-style weightlifting. A BFS-sponsored athlete, Mastricola has successfully made 50 out of 52 attempts in competition, and has exceeded
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The BFS-Swedish Connection
On May 18 BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss (right) attended an Olympic lifting seminar by Anders Lindsjö (left). Lindsjö competed in the 1992 Olympic Games and today is the head coach for the Swedish Olympic Weightlifting Team. Lindsjö says there are three main qualities to mastering
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The BFS Rules of Engagement
FEATURE STORY 3KRWRE\-LP(OOLV0LDPL1HZV5HFRUG 2NODKRPD Rules of Engagement Three simple rules to ensure athletic superiority BY DR. PETER G. GORMAN, PRESIDENT, MICROGATE USA t’s summertime – ready, set, play! For many, the end of the school year means family vacations, fun
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Jacob Tompkins BFS Male Athlete of the Year
hen it comes to selecting a BFS Athlete of the Year, all the great qualities we look for can be summed up in one word: balance. There are many superb athletes who have excelled using the BFS program, and many athletes who have excelled in the classroom. What BFS is searching for
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BFS Goes to the Arnold
WHAT’S HAPPENING 3KRWRVE\6WHYH)DXHUZZZIDXHUSKRWRUHÁHFWFRP BFS Goes to the Arnold The Arnold Weightlifting Championships were held on March 1-3, and in attendance this year were BFS editor Kim Goss and BFS scholarship winner Brittanie Mastricola. Mastricola not only made
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Stop Hamstring Pulls
Now! Stop Hamstring Pulls 10 tips to prevent this frustrating injury BY KIM GOSS, MS t the Olympic Trials in track and field, an athlete must finish in the top three in their event to earn a spot on the Olympic Team – finishing fourth is essentially equivalent to placing last. At
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Forgotten Secrets to Improving Lateral Speed
TRAINING & EQUIPMENT %HFN\0LOOHU3KRWR Lateral speed is a key ingredient in many sports, even those performed on ice by skaters. Shown are Michelle Hyselle of the MedCity Mafia roller derby team pulling ahead of the Moose Lake Mafia; and football player Eric Corona of Fruitand Hi
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A Question of Balance
BY BOB ROWBOTHAM, CEO, BFS 3KRWRE\1DWKDQ%RRW] The skill sets needed to punt a football or block it rely on balance and timing. To read more about the Ithaca High School football team, see page 10. n March 13 of this year we had a special visitor at BFS headquarters in Salt La
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The BFS Difference
Here is Coach Shepard spotting a heavy squat when he was a strength coach at BYU. note: Although this article week developing their bench press by The BFS on the(Editor’s origins of Coach Shepard’s training doing many exercises and sets because Difference It has never been easier
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Finding a Way to Win at Mason County
BY DAVID BUCHANAN, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH MASON COUNTY HS, MAYSVILLE, KY t Mason County High School we have an old-school athletic program. By that I mean we still want our student-athletes to play multiple sports. We believe this approach is beneficial to the students and ethical a
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The Quest for Physical Superiority
Physical Superiority How Paul Gagné uses the OptoJump to guide his athletes to winning ways Paul Gagné is a strength coach and posturologist who uses the OptoJump in his practice. He is shown here testing the effects of a compression suit on his balance. aul Gagné is a Canadian s
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Frequently Asked Questions about BFS
BFS is a company dedicated to helping young people succeed on and off the athletic field. about BFS Information for our readers about the company and its program FS is a unified program designed to get all the coaches in a school working together to improve the overall physical an
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Fast Track to Success at Edgar High School
to Success at Edgar High School Hard work has paid off for these outstanding student athletes hey say you can’t go home again, but Greg Streit knows better. For the past seven years Streit has been a track coach at Edgar High School, the school he graduated from in 2000. As a stu
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More Awards for Jared Abbrederis
WHAT’S HAPPENING 3KRWRE\'DYLG6WXND:LVFRQVLQ$WKOHWLF&RPPXQLFDWLRQV Jared Abbrederis, starting wide receiver for the University of Wisconsin, was selected first team to the 2012 All-Big Ten Conference football team. Abbrederis was the 2009 BFS High School Male Athlete of the
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Body Image and the Female Athlete
BY LAANNA CARRASCO, MA leaner athlete is a better athlete.” Do you agree with this statement? It’s a common belief that is certainly true from a biomechanical perspective: The less mass an athlete has to move, the less force is required to move it at a given speed, meaning that e
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Monitoring Athletes for Physical Superiority
n weightlifting and powerlifting it’s natural to assume that the athletes who lift the most weight have the best training program. At the last two Olympics in weightlifting, the Chinese lifters dominated both men’s and women’s lifting, so obviously they know what they are doing.
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The Evolution of Athletic Training Programs
Editor’s note: Although this article on the origins of Coach Shepard’s training methods was written 16 years ago, the ideas are still relevant today.) op coaches who desire state-ofthe-art strength and conditioning programs must be acutely aware of the importance of a total progr
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Girl Power at Leesburg High
Sydney McWilliams and Kendra Young have turned themselves into legitimate state-level weightlifters – and have the medals to prove it! Girl Power at Leesburg High A powerful program for strong women BY COACH JOSH BOYER t Leesburg High School I teach weight training and also coach
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The Power Clean for Athletes
Editor’s note: Although this article on the origins of Coach Shepard’s training methods was written 18 years ago, the ideas are still relevant today.] t BFS we believe the power clean is essential for athletes who want to achieve their full athletic potential. Moreover, athletes
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The Art of the Comback: Abbey Ristow
The Art of the Comeback: A serious knee injury was not going to stop her from achieving greatness hat other athletes may call extra work, Abbey Ristow calls opportunity,” says BFS program coach Chad Whalen of Ellsworth High School in Wisconsin. Enduring athletic energy, sheer int
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Records fall at Power Clean Championships
Las Vegas has earned another nickname: Power Clean City! On May 12th, strong male and female high school athletes from across the country came to Bonanza High School in Las Vegas to compete in the 10th Annual National High School Power Clean Championships. As happens every year t
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The ABC's of Box Jumping
TRAINING & EQUIPMENT /XVLD$QJLODXSKRWRE\6WHYH.LQVORZ Box Jumping The safest and most effective ways to perform this great exercise FS has been saying it for nearly four decades, and finally the message is going mainstream: “Box jumps work!” Not just a way to make athletes m
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The Right Track
BFS PROGRAM BFS Vice President John Rowbotham is carrying on Coach Shepard’s vision of teaching young athletes the right way to lift for physical superiority. The Right Track Timeless insight into the most effective way to train young athletes BY DR. GREG SHEPARD, BFS FOUNDER/CEO
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2012 BFS High School Female Athlete of the Year
Female Athlete of the Year Jessica Marie Staggs is one powerful young woman 3KRWR -LP(OOLV0LDPL1HZV5HFRUG 2NODKRPD hat do cheerleading, track and field, basketball, powerlifting and academic excellence have in common? Answer: Jessica Marie Staggs, the recipient of our annu
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A Closer Look at Overhead Lifting
TRAINING & EQUIPMENT 3KRWRVE\%UXFH.OHPHQV The jerk is a total-body lift that helps athletes develop tremendous power. Here Ian Wilson is shown jerking a personal record of 423 pounds to win the 207-pound bodyweight division at the 2012 Senior Nationals. Overhead Lifting The va
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A New Look at Posture
BY KIM GOSS, MS Posturologist Paul Gagné performing a postural assessment in Napa, California. To his right are BFS writer Laura Dayton (blue shirt) and BFS Editor Kim Goss. he basic theory of corrective exercise is that you stretch muscles that are tight and you strengthen muscl
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Periodization Analysis
BY DR. GREG SHEPARD, BFS FOUNDER/CEO (Editor’s note: Although this article for coaches was written 16 years ago, the ideas are still relevant today. The periodization methods that Dr. Mike Stone developed were used in many publications by the National Strength and Conditioning As
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2012 Power Clean Championships Set for Vegas
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss, MS Confirm As Friend? section – it will be devoted to content of particular interest finally broke down and started a Facebook page. No, I to young women athletes, their parents and coaches. won’t use it to tell the wor
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Scholarships for Women: Come and Get ' Em!
FOR WOMEN ONLY $OORVVRDFWLRQSKRWRVE\3DW&RQQHOO\ Kiley Allosso was our 2007 BFS High School Female Athlete of the Year. She carried a 3.933 GPA in high school and earned a field hockey scholarship at Boston University. Scholarships for Women: Come and Get ’Em! How young women
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11 Practical Ways to Get Quick Feet
Quick Feet How to improve this vital athletic quality – fast! ne of the most coveted qualities an athlete can have is quick feet. Being able to move almost instantaneously in any direction can be what it takes for a fullback to break through a defensive line, or a tennis player t
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The Health Care Community Meets BFS
he University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic has a policy of pushing the envelope by offering creative programs to enable its graduates to provide the best care for their patients. A recent example was the human performance lecture series that took place on January 28-29,
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Answering the Critics: The Back Squat
BY KIM GOSS, MS ver since BFS was founded in 1976, we have been promoting the back squat as a core exercise for athletes – but it hasn’t been easy. On occasion the medical community has discouraged its use, thinking it was harmful to the knees and could stunt a young athlete’s gr
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Wide Receiver Jared Abbrederis University of Wisconsin
Jared Abbrederis University of Wisconsin A former BFS Athlete of the Year is making it big in college football espite the advances in sports medicine, when a high school football player tears their ACL, especially if they are in a skill position such as quarterback, that often me
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What's Happening
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss, MS Game, Interrupted I would say that if Rabinoff were to compile a top 10 list he scandal at Penn State has been the focus of every of what Paterno should have done when he first heard major sports network and the gene
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What's Happening
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss, MS That’s Why They Play the Game! Every summer I head to the local bookstore and pick day this magazine reaches your mailbox, those predictions up several of the college football preview magazines might not hold up. One
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Hex Bar Squat Jumps for Ultimate Power
Jumping with a hex bar is biomechanically more specific than jumping with a barbell resting on the shoulders. Shown performing a squat jump is Lusia Angilau, a member of the women’s volleyball team at Southern Utah. Angilau appeared on our Sep/Oct 2009 cover, and had a 27.1 inch v
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How Good is Good?
BFS PROGRAM (Editor’s note: Having been involved with BFS for nearly a quarter of a century, I find it interesting that a lot of coaches I’ve talked to have kept every issue of BFS magazine. The reason is that much of the information, particularly the training physiology and idea
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What's Happening
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss, MS The Voice of Reason the standard by which you are measured professionally – it’s ne of the best things about being the editor of BFS your behavior in your profession. Let me put it another way: magazine is chatting w
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The Dark Side of Sports
on Sports Liability Informative, and sometimes shocking, statements r. Marc Rabinoff has been contributing to BFS for nearly a decade, and he has written dozens of articles on many aspects of liability in sports and fitness. He has discussed the value of waivers, the basics of we
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The Shocking Truth About Inflammation
Inflammation The pros, cons and alternatives to taking popular drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen and Aleve ot a headache? Take an aspirin. Sprain your ankle? Pop a few Aleve. Is that chronic case of jumper’s knee acting up? Some ibuprofen may do the trick. Common advice, sure – but
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The Research Confirms It The Hex Bar Rules!
The Hex Bar Rules! A new peer-reviewed study of deadlifts compares the hex bar to the straight bar ell, it took a while for the sport scientists to catch up to what we at BFS already knew, but the data is in: The hex bar deadlift is superior in just about every Wway to the straig
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2011 BFS High School Male Athlete of the Year
Male Athlete of the Year Parker Adams is this year’s winner of this prestigious award ne of the requirements of being eligible for the BFS High School Male Athlete of the Year award is being a good student as well as a great athlete. Parker Adams is great in both, excelling in mu
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Whats Happening
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss, MS Staying with It in a game? After all, you have a supportive audience watching ack when I was a strength coach at the Air Force your every move, your teammates and coaches encouraging Academy, I remember one summer in
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Barbell Basics: The Power Rack
Rediscover this versatile training tool trength coaching has evolved into a profession in which there are professional organizations, peer-reviewed journals, national conventions, and coaches who make sixfigure salaries. But along the way, the profession experienced a rough patch
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The Three Rules of Speed Training
Speed Training Simple, proven methods to dramatically increase running speed arly in my career I spent my summers in the Los Angeles area training with track athletes. I was amazed at the size and speed of their throwers. There were about 30 of these men who weighed an average of
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BFS High School Female Athlete of the Year
3KRWRE\'DYLG-HQQLQJVRI-HQQLQJV3KRWRJUDSK\ZZZMHQQLQJVURGHRSKRWRJUDSK\FRP Athlete of the Year Multi-talented cowgirl Megan White wins our most prestigious award hen we receive nominations for our male and female high school athletes of the year, coming down to a single w
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Whats Happening
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss, MS The Public’s Right to Know f you’ve ever watched TMZ or visited their website, you players who had to be hospitalized after a workout. Because of this latter incident, Chris Doyle, the may wonder how these people can
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The Dark Side of Sports
Sports/liability consultant Dr. Marc Rabinoff has testified in two litigations involving rhabdomyolysis, one of which concerned an individual who had died. BY DR. MARC RABINOFF lthough sporting events happen through the efforts of numerous people, it’s the athletes and head coache
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The Consumers Guide to Bumper Plates
$OLVH/DUVRQ+XQWHU+LJK6FKRRO3KRWRE\6WHYH.LQVORZ Bumper Plates A brief history of these essential training tools BY BOB ROWBOTHAM, PRESIDENT, BFS trength coaches are always looking for the next big thing in exercise equipment – that special apparatus that will give their
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How to Develop Powerful Athletes
BY KIM GOSS, MS n comedian Eddie Izzard’s standup routine on martial arts, he notes that tai chi is not very effective for self-defense because it is “a little too slow.” Likewise, one of the reasons for Bruce Lee’s popularity was his incredible speed, and it was reported that fo
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A Closer Look at Power Balance Drills
Power Balance Drills Unique exercises that develop dynamic flexibility Marilou Dozois-Prevost, a 2008 Olympian from Canada, shows exceptional strength, balance and flexibility. e admire Olympic lifters for their exceptional strength and speed, for sure, but also for their flexibil
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The Dark Side of Sports
Certfications, such as the ones offered by BFS, are designed to enhance academic credentials, not to take the place of them. Shown teaching the latest ideas in their profession are BFS clinicians Jeff Scurran (below) and John Rowbotham (right). The Age of Arrogance The legal conse
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New Perspectives on Childhood Obesity
on Childhood Obesity Knowledge is key in the fight against this major health threat itness icon Jack LaLanne was best known for his television show, The Jack LaLanne Show, which debuted in 1951. Jack was lean, well-muscled and charismatic; his show was so popular that it went int
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Eight Tips to Make Weight Training Classes Run Smoothly
ailing to plan is planning to fail” is a quote from popular author and time management consultant Alan Lakein. This is especially true when trying to run a strength and conditioning program at the middle school or high school level. These programs face numerous challenges today,
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Staying on Top at Mountain View
The Mountain View Bruins have won over 83 state championships in a wide variety of sports. This Utah high school has the right plan for athletic superiority ince it opened its doors three decades ago, Mountain View High School has made a powerful impact on the Utah sports scene.
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Success in Unity at Brook Hill High
rook Hill High School is enjoying tremendous success with its athletic teams, thanks in large measure to the implementation of BBrook Hill School, located in Bullard, Texas, competes in the Tapps Division 3 and has 191 students enrolled in high school. Many students letter in mul
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Top 11 Ways to Build a Championship Program
or over three decades at BFS we’ve seen an amazing number of successful athletic programs, and among them we’ve noted underlying themes. Some of these ideas can be implemented immediately, and others may take a few seasons to fully establish. But if you’ve been reading all the hi
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WHATS HAPPENING
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss Road Trip! hockey players, as evidenced by a 319-pound power clean! ow that I live in Rhode Island, I’m aware that This issue of BFS is considered our college football the coming winter will turn the area into a giant is
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2010 BFS High School Male Athlete of the Year
Male Athlete of the Year Austin Ryf achieves the balance that has made him an exceptional student-athlete here is a mistaken belief that the winner of the BFS Male Athlete of the Year should be bench pressing 400 pounds and running 4.40 in the forty. Yes, the award is given to ex
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What's Happening
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss The Power of Hope Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine. When I first his story has special importance to me because I’ve wrote about Roman in our September/October 2006 issue, known Don Reed for 34 years and he was
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The Dark Side of Sports - The Truth about Background Checks
Glenn A. Morris, an adjunct professor of strength at Metropolitan State College of Denver, teaching a young woman the finer points of a power clean. Metro State has an outstanding sports liability program run by Dr. Rabinoff that discusses issues such as screening individuals for
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BFS Position Paper - Sports Medicine
Sports Medicine The BFS perspective on how to deal with injuries to young athletes In January physical therapist Nick Liatsos gave a seminar at the Poliquin Strength Institute called “Accelerated Healing from Sports Injuries: The Lower Back.” At this seminar trainers and coaches
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A Closer Look at Absolute #3
Absolute #3 A key teaching cue to help protect the lower back he strength training community tends to jump on new trends, thus changing the way athletes are trained as well as how a particular Tcoach is perceived in terms of identity and reputation. In the ’70s, static stretching
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American Football Goes Global
Team Stars and Stripes in front of the Palace of Versailles near Paris. In Europe, there’s more to football than just soccer BY JEFF SCURRAN BFS DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND NATIONAL YOUTH COORDINATOR first heard about football being played in Europe from the legendary
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Winton Woods: A BFS Journey
Winton Woods: 2009 State Champions! inton Woods High School initiated its football program in 1991, under legendary coach Lou Cykar and trusted assistant Dan Bamonte, when Forest Park High School and Greenhills High School merged. Since 1991, this school in Cincinnati, Ohio, has
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What's Happening
FROM THE EDITOR A Message from BFS Editor in Chief Kim Goss The Age of Ego have been in previous decades. In one major study of college ’ve had the opportunity to interview many coaches and students, one out of four students tested as having narcisphysical education instructors w
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Structural Balance and Auxiliary Exercises
TRAINING & EQUIPMENT 3KRWRFRXUWHV\8QLYHUVLW\RI/RXLVYLOOH6SRUWV,QIRUPDWLRQ Structural balance training is required in sports such as field hockey, which requires exceptional levels of lateral quickness to reach the highest levels. Demonstrating her skills is Janelle Avila, w
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A Closer Look at Absolute #2
To achieve maximum sprinting speed, athletes need to be tall, as shown here by this Santa Rita High School athlete. Absolute #2 Why this absolute is the key to good posture and athletic performance arents often tell their children that good posture involves standing or sitting up
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2010 BFS High School Female Athlete of the Year
Female Athlete of the Year Amy Elizabeth Medina is a winner in all aspects of life here are many exceptional high school athletes in this country, and there are many exceptional students. The BFS Female High School Athlete of the Year is presented to a young woman who combines ex
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A New Look at Flexibility Training
TRAINING & EQUIPMENT 3KRWR 7LPHOHVV,PDJHV3KRWRJUDSK\ Flexibility Training A look at what’s inside the new BFS Flexibility Manual fter giving thousands of BFS clinics over the past three decades, we’ve found that stretching is the one component most often missing in an athlete’
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BFS Position Paper: Squat Variations
The front squat is a great squat variation and is a key exercise for Olympic lifters. Shown here with great form is Lusia Angilau, a volleyball player from Hunter High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. Lucia has cleaned 150 pounds and vertical jumped 27.1 inches. The BFS perspectiv
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What's Happening
From BFS to Superbowl! The bad news is the Colts lost the Super Bowl. The good news is that one of our former BFS athletes, who made the cover of the Summer 2003 issue of BFS magazine, plays for the Colts! Jamie Silva played running back and defensive back for East Providence Hig
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Online Learning Center
ne of the problems we have had in the past is hearing that a coach was using the BFS program at their school and had poor results. What we often find is that the coach never attended a BFS clinic, but simply read some of our materials and thought that was enough to get started. W
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BFS Position Paper: The Box Squat
The Box Squat The BFS perspective on this valuable lower body exercise BFS clinician Roger Freeborn (red shirt) and Erich Mach (back spotter) teaching proper box squat form at a BFS clinic. he box squat is the most controversial lift in the BFS program and, for that matter, in we
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The Safety Squat Revisited
f there’s one universal truth about strength and conditioning coaches, it’s that they love new toys. Suspension cables, want them. Kettlebells, got to have them. Fiber optic knee ligament stabilizers – don’t know what the heck they are, but we need at least two. Some of these dev
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The Next Step in Speed Training
#24 Luke Ryba, McDonell Central High School Effective tools to improve acceleration and stay fast 3KRWR /LVD7HQROG ecause the basis of speed is strength, athletes need to perform multijoint core lifts such as squats and power cleans. That’s a given. Certainly, being stronger a
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The Education of a Strength Coach: Charles Ploiquin
Charles Poliquin A frank discussion with one of the world’s most accomplished strength coaches BY KIM GOSS, MS n outlier is someone who not only masters a certain skill or field of study but also makes us think in a different way about what they do. Examples of outliers in busine
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How to Organize Plyometrics and Speed Workouts
Plyometrics and Speed Workouts Fine-tuning the Tuesday and Thursday off-season BFS workouts t’s been said that “All things being equal, the strongest athlete will always win.” True, and that’s why coaches place so much emphasis on the BFS Set-Rep weight training program, not just
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What's Happening
On the Road Again: BFS Clinics Across America Tour Top left: Coach Chuck Hartman, Sibley East High School, MN. Top right: Coach Brad Dix, Sacred Heart High School, KS. Middle: Athletic Director Rob White and Coach Mike Glennie, Saline High School, MI. Bottom: The Sacred Heart Kni
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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