Strength Camp

Pictures Of The New Strength Camp (FIRE ROOM)

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:04:10 +0000

Speed Training Exercises At Strength Camp Gym

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:55:13 +0000

Chris Barnard: Strength Camp Coach

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:40:32 +0000

Chris Barnard is a strength and conditioning coach at Strength Camp, a hardcore athlete training facility in St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as owner of Total Xplosive Training, a digital training program dedicated to maximizing overall athleticism that he developed while in transition from recovering from surgery into playing Division 1 football.

He is earning his Masters in Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Miami, where he initially went to play football before becoming ineligible. He has worked with athletes at all levels and from many different sports to produce the highest level of performance in each.

He currently resides between Clearwater and Miami, Florida and continues to pursuit breakthroughs in athletic performance as he aspires to return back to the playing field as well as producing elite athletes through coaching.

Now accepting applications from highly motivated athletes who display a strong character and athletic potential. Space in this program is very limited only accepting serious athletes.
Fill out the application here online (link to your application for joining) or just call 727 409 6459

Speed Training 101…The Truth

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 03:32:58 +0000

If you’re looking to gain speed I have a free video for you to watch right here that will eliminate all of your mistakes holding you back when speed training…

Just Click the video and watch the short video that will change your game immediately!!

In Season Football Strength Training Program Design

admin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:55:36 +0000

Thanks for all of the cool ideas and feedback about in-season training for football! Its pretty clear to me that many of you are true professionals that really take the time to understand the physical demands of the sport you are training AND make it a priority to educate yourselves on the science and application of sports strength and conditioning.

One coach that has really helped me to understand the bio mechanics of sports based movement is Eric Cressey.

All of Eric’s books, DVDs, and presentations seem to shed light upon some of the most overlooked aspects of training… and his new program The Show & Go Performance System is no different, in fact it’s better than some of his other books because he really makes some of the more advanced concepts very applicable for coaches and athletes who are “in the trenches”

I think he may be offering it this week for a few bucks off, might be worth a look if you are into designing high quality strength and conditioning programs.

=> CLICK HERE to take a look at his website.

Well, I promised that I’d tell you my thoughts on designing in season strength programs for athletes… so I made the following video for ya!

Let me know if it is helpful or if you have any questions.

Shrinking Muscles (in-season power loss)

admin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:51:51 +0000

Elliott at 16 yrs old (high school)

When I played football in high school and college I was OBSESSED with getting bigger, stronger and more powerful in the off season. I loved off season bodybuilding and power lifting so much that I made a career out of training athletes for sports performance!

But, I had a BIG PROBLEM when the season was in full swing. You see, no matter how much food I ate or how much time I spent in the weight room I always seemed to lose around 10 pounds of muscle and experience a dramatic loss of strength and power.

The real problem was NOT that I was losing size and strength… it was that I was training my muscles and nervous system in the WRONG WAY.

This is what the in-season weight training / conditioning that my coach had the team perform typically looked like…

Everyday:

Suicide Sprints / Gassers x 5 – 15 sets done daily after practice (except the day before a game)

Monday:

Power Cleans 3 x 8 – 12

Squats 3 x 10

Bench Press 3 x 10

Chin Ups 3 x 10

Crunches 1 x 100

Thursday:

Push Press 3 x 8 – 12

Front Squats 3 x 10

Incline Bench Press 3 x 10

Seated Rows 3 x 10

Crunches 1 x 100

I’d say that this program is pretty basic, you may see this being done in high school weight rooms all across the nation as we speak! This program covers all of the most important lifts and is designed well.

The only problem is that it DOES NOT WORK!

First of all there is far too much volume (reps and sets) for an in season training program. Also, in my opinion there is too much conditioning and the fact is that as a young athlete 200 crunches per week will wreak havoc on your posture and ability to recover from exercise.

I know that there are about 9 other things about this in season training program that can be corrected and made to actually build strength and power for athletes DURRING the in season. I’ve been using a very effective method for keeping the athletes that train at Strength Camp while in their sports season strong and powerful… in fact, several of our athletes ever get STRONGER and MORE POWERFUL while training for their frequent game days!

We fully intend to see many of our athletes exhibit extraordinary Post Season Power!

Let me help you:

1. In the comments area below post your current in-season training regime.

2. Let me know if it is working for you or your team right now.

3. If you have any ideas about how we may be able to make it better, please let me know.

Controlled Overtraining (breaking the rules to build more muscle?)

admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:39:25 +0000

Training on the Edge – Learn How Overtraining on Purpose Can Get You Maximum Results Fast!

Guest post By Nick Nilsson Author Of Mad Scientist Muscle

Overtraining is NOT evil. Overtraining can be exactly what you need to achieve continuous and rapid results in your training.

But first, what is overtraining? Overtraining is, most simply, training too much. Your body is unable to recover from the volume or frequency of training and begins to break down. You not only lose motivation to train, you become more susceptible to injury and illness, and you may even start to go backwards in your training, getting smaller and weaker on almost a daily basis.

So how can overtraining possibly be good for you? I’ll tell you.

It all begins with the incredible adaptive power of your body. As you become more advanced in weight training you will generally notice that you cannot make consistent gains for a long period of time on one training system. Your body quickly adapts to whatever training system you’re using and hits a plateau. To get around this, it’s usually recommended that you change your program every three to six weeks.

The question now is how to use this adaptive ability to your advantage.

It’s really quite simple. You gradually build up to a state of temporary overtraining, then, when you’re overtrained and your adaptive processes are working to their fullest capacity for recovery, you back off. This backing off results in what is called overcompensation.

Imagine you’re driving a car and climbing a hill with the gas pedal to the floor. You’re giving it everything you’ve got but you’re still going up slowly. This is similar to overtraining. When you reach the top, the going gets a lot easier. If you keep the gas pedal on the floor when you go over the top and head down, you’re going to go a lot faster very quickly. This is overcompensation and this is where the results are.

On a normal program, you work a bodypart, it becomes temporarily weaker, then becomes stronger as it overcompensates so you can lift more next time. What a normal program does on a small, local basis, this overtraining program does on a full body, systemic basis.

Sound good? We’re not done. Now we’re going to harness the power of overtraining by using what I call “Controlled Overtraining.”

The overtraining or ramping phase of this Controlled Overtraining program lasts three weeks, which is about the time it takes the body to adapt to a training program. It then backs off to a fairly easy phase for three weeks.

Notes:

- Take all sets to failure. The rep ranges are simply guidelines – if you can get more reps, do them.
- Be sure to keep your workout time to less than 45 minutes for best results. Much longer and you will break yourself down too much.
- Use a timer or stopwatch to time your rest between sets. It is critical to the success of the program to keep your rest periods consistent.

You start out doing 3 sets for your bodyparts the first week, 4 sets the second week, and 5 sets the third week. While you’re increasing the volume, you’re simultaneously decreasing the rest period. This gradually builds you up to overtraining.

For the next three weeks, you decrease the sets and reps and increase the rest periods. This allows you to recover from the overtraining and take advantage of the overcompensation that occurs when the body is still working at dealing with the hard work and then you cut the hard work. Though it may feel like you’re hardly doing anything at all, you should see some great results.

Continue this lower-volume training for at least three weeks. If, at the end of those three weeks, you are still making progress, keep going! Don’t cut yourself off from any results. This phase could last as long as 6 weeks or more. When you start to slow down, however, it’s time to ramp back up to overtraining. Keeping up this cycling of volume and intensity is a strategy that gives consistent results over long periods of time.

The first time you do the program, keep it exactly as it is. This will give you the best, practical experience as to how the program feels.

After that, you can try playing with the numbers a little following this general outline, perhaps starting at 3 minutes rest for the first week, 90 seconds the second week, and then dropping down to 30 seconds by the third week.

If you do decide to play with the numbers, be absolutely certain to reduce your training volume and increase your rest periods for the second three-week phase. If you don’t, you will continue to overtrain yourself and you will break down.

The program that I’ve outlined uses a rep system called Micro-Periodization (Periodization is the cycling of rep ranges. It is traditionally conducted over a period of months, e.g. three months high reps, three months, medium reps, three months low reps.). Dividing the week into three separate phases, such as in this program, is called Micro-Periodization. It is an extremely effective format for building strength and muscle mass.

As you can see, overtraining is not always the horrible thing it’s often made out to be. Training on the edge is where the real results are. Those who shy away from it will never make as good of progress as those who embrace it!

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of BetterU, Inc. and has been inventing new training techniques and exercises for 17+ years. Nick has written many training books including Mad Scientist Muscle. CLICK HERE to learn more about Controlled Over Training and gaining muscle mass.

Squat Exercise Technique Cues (how to coach squats)

admin — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:57:04 +0000

Squats are another essential exercise for building athletic strength and power… the problem is that most athletes get it all screwed up AND most coaches end up bald from pulling their hair out trying to teach it!

I’m a big fan of using visual and verbal cues to get my athletes moving like, well… athletes! Here is a video I made that teaches you a few of my best cues for teaching the squat to young weaklings!

Dead lift variation for tall athletes

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:00:13 +0000

Dead lifts are an essential exercise for ALL athletes! (and all people for that matter). But the fact is that some people have a harder time performing them properly due to body structure and weaknesses. So, instead of letting them get away without doing dead lifts at all… simply “decend” the exercise using the tips in my video below.

Chris Barnard: Strength Conditioning Coach Tampa Bay

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:56:29 +0000