Pennsylvania State Clinic

This hands-on session will introduce strongman competition, events and training. Participants will learn to apply these training techniques and movements to improve functional strength.

Every transition provides inherent opportunites and challenges.  This past year, the strength and conditioning staff of six at the Unviersity of Pennsylvania experienced such a transition.  Navigating this process are two individuals who received the bulk of their experience at the Division III and High Schoo level.  Hear how the many lessons learned at these 'lower' levels prepared them for the process, how a staff of almost 60 years of combined experience works as a team for the first time, and how a new culture is being established.  Plans for advancing the program from an applied research and sports performance perspective will also be discussed. 

The purpose of this hands-on event is to instruct coaches and fitness professionals how to incorporate games, competition and challenges into each workout. The games and challenges will increase motivation and are adaptable to meet the needs of a variety of clients. Games to be included in this presentation are Calf Tag, Cat and Dog, and Bronco Tag. These games may be modified to align with the specific training goals of each session.

The games presented will also have an emphasis on the ADR Speed System. Incorporating games into training sessions will allow coaches and fitness professionals the opportunity to develop game speed in a fun and engaging way.

We all know about the need for personal fitness in the tactical populations. We also know the means to achieve it. However, in many cases we lack the ability to motivate our peers and subordinates into healthy lifestyles. There are many causes that contribute to this: organizational factors, personal attitudes, and "lack of time". We take for granted the most important component the important work we do: OURSELVES! This presentation looks at motivating tools and strategies to help achieve organizational fitness and wellness goals. We will explore the common traps that cause failures in fitness programs in tactical populations, organizational dynamics, and influence strategies to achieve compliance without punitive action. This presentation aims to arm you with the tools to achieve a successful fitness program, improve diet and nutrition, and create an environment that produces healthy, happy tactical athletes.

Your athlete returns to training following an injury and thorough rehabilitation. What now? Full steam ahead with strength and conditioning? Return to sport criteria testing? The bridge between rehabilitation and training after injury is a direct one, but often becomes occluded through poor communication between the rehabilitation team and coaching staff. This presentation will educate the NSCA professional about important return to sport criteria that will allow for safe training after a rehabilitation stint. Interdisciplinary communication and sharing of objective goals between rehabilitation and strength staff is currently undervalued and needs to be developed further.

Taking a look at ways to be the best YOU professionally. The presentation will include a biographical approach to describing how to navigate finding an ideal profession and taking all opportunities as learning situations.

A presentation of a research study that identified the skills, knowledge, and experiences differentiating expert and competent strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches. The participants were 87 elite-level head S&C coaches with an average of over 18 years of coaching experience. These coaches were employed by teams from the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAA Division 1 FBS "Power Five" Conferences, United States National Teams, and the Australian Football League. This study used both a qualitative and quantitative research design through the use of the Delphi method, which incorporated three rounds of surveys. Characteristics that reached a level of consensus were placed on the final list of characteristics. A total of 46 characteristics reached a level of consensus and were placed on the final list of characteristics.

Swimming, triathlon, and open water swimming have seen a fast increase in strength & conditioning participation. These athletes are often exposed to intervals, heart rate training, and discussions on seasonal training volumes at an early age. This makes them very curious athletes in the weight room. Being able to articulate a connection between a gym-based movement and their sport is a critical step in creating buy-in. Attend this session to learn about some specifics of movement that you can utilize to your advantage when working with these athletic populations.

This presentation is for any coach looking to maximize their athlete and staff performance when working with limited resources. I will walk the attendees through a proven system that I utilized to create my sports performance facility and begin my college coaching career. Each participant will learn to create a system that helps create a championship culture that will bring out the best in everyone.

During this presentation Rob will discuss the overhead athlete sport physical demands. Attendees will witness 1 or 2 subjects tested in Shoulder IR, ER Flexion, Horizontal Abd, Ribcage position, breathing mechanics, scapula humeral rhythm, resting posture and t-spine mobility testing. These tests will provide the strength coach or trainer more information to better design programs and help decrease the epidemic of elbow and shoulder injuries in the overhead athlete.

Movement screening has the potential to significantly improve the assessment process. It can identify painful and/or limited movements, which in turn can be used to guide exercise selection. It can also facilitate communication with sports medicine professionals. But it can be a waste of time if it's not done well and its limitations are not well understood. In this presentation, I would synthesize the vast body of research on movement screening and break down the strengths, limitations, do's, and don'ts of movement screening in practice. I would also recommend ways to improve upon existing screens to maximize the usefulness of the information gathered for the strength and conditioning professional.