Lou Holtz is a coach that will go down in the history books as a man of integrity, passion, enthusiasm, character and charisma. He also won his fair share of football games! His philosophies can be utilized in any environment to create a WINNING organization. Strength and Conditioning is no different, the wisdom Coach Holtz delivers is contagious and paramount to building bigger, faster, and stronger athletes. It’s also important in fostering an atmosphere that builds character and teaches life lessons far beyond the confines of our gyms. “Winning Everyday” (Coach Holt’s book) shares the wisdom of a coaching legend.

Lou Holtz is more than a Football Coach; he’s a leader, a motivator, a competitor and a winner. I am currently in the process of reading his book tilted “Winning Every Day.” In it he shares a story on the importance of fundamentals. As strength coaches, this wisdom should not fall on deaf ears. Fundamentals are the bedrock of any sound strength and conditioning program.

Experience is a valuable teacher, arguably the single most important step in the learning process. Learning from past success and failure allows us to build efficient, effective training methods, exercise components, philosophies, coaching cues, professional, hands-on knowledge, and most importantly saves time. “Time is of essence, and the essence of success is time.” (John Wooden) There are many avoidable mistakes young coaches make to form their experiences: from the muscle head coach who creates his workout regime from a Bodybuilding Magazine, to the Coach who tries to fit square pegs in round holes and hurts his clients or himself, to the Coach that thinks a former sporting career qualifies him as a competent, effective strength and conditioning professional. The question we all need to ask ourselves is: “Can we expedite the learning process?” “Can we learn from wise coaches with years of experience making mistakes so that we may avoid them?” The answer to this question is YES! I call this Fast Forward Learning.

During my days as a youth, I was never a big fan of visiting the doctors’ office. Just the sight of a white coat made my heart race faster than a pace car at the Indianapolis 500. Maybe it was the fear of getting a shot, or the doctor asking me to turn and cough, either way you cut it, I had white coat syndrome! Fast forward to the present and my profession as a Strength and Conditioning Coach. The best coaches in the business use evidence based practice, meshing research with practical application to form safe, and effective protocol for their respective populations. Research however is a touchy subject. What journals are considered “credible”? How old is the study? What population was used to prove/disprove a theory? Does the study classify a “group” and not individualize certain characteristics (i.e. weight, height, age, lifestyle, sport career, previous injury, level of exercise, ect)? The list goes on and on! Research/Evidence is very important, and with all if this information at hand, many Coaches can get white coat syndrome (overwhelmed and hesitant to proceed).

I don’t like comparing sports or strength and conditioning to war.It’s an insult to our fine service men and women that sacrifice their lives in order for us to do what we do.This is far more important than goals, assists, touchdowns and turnovers.I do however, find they’re ranking system fascinating and think we as aspiring coaches can learn from these brave soldiers.Rank is based on EXPERIENCE! You don’t start out as a general; you put in countless hours (early mornings, late nights) as a foot soldier learning from high-ranking commanders and executing pre set commands.You spend trench time making mistakes. You spend trench time using two ears and one mouth.You spend trench time learning and applying.You spend trench gaining valuable experience.You spend trench time in hostile situations.You spend trench time gaining the respect of your fellow soldiers and leaders. This is how you earn your stripes.It’s a continuous process, a pursuit of excellence that takes many, many years to accomplish.What does this possibly have to do with strength and conditioning you may ask?It has everything to do with it!