12.15.06

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Click here to Ask Joe about training. If you send a question, it may appear on the website. Please do not submit a question if you do not want the question published. Only your first name will be used for privacy reasons.
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HUGE OPPORTUNITY!

We are approaching our VERY busy season and we are looking for a stud in the strength & conditioning field to join our team!
If you would like to become part of one of the most well-respected training facilities in the world, email me at joe-d@defrancostraining.com with the words “I want a job!” in the subject line.
You can either send me your resume or just write me a paragraph or two on why you feel that you should become part of our elite team.
You do NOT need to have an exercise science degree and you do NOT need to have 10 years experience under your belt. What you DO need to have is a positive/energetic personality, an incredible passion to help young athletes succeed and you also need to have a grasp of the “DeFranco’s Training Method” and the teachings of this website.
 
Whether you just graduated from college and you think you have what it takes, or you’ve been in the field for most of your life and you’re looking to go to the next level, DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY to become the BEST!

I’m looking forward to hearing from some impressive individuals!
Joe D.

 

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Q: Joe,

I love box squatting and have been preaching the benefits of them to my
soccer buddies for getting them stronger and faster. However, I read
this today from Charles Poliquin on T-Nation when asked about box
squatting…
"I never use them. With athletes, you want the most bang for
your buck, the highest return, because you only have eleven weeks on
average to train them during their off-season. So the choice of
exercises becomes really important. The problem I have with box squats is that their application is limited to powerlifting. Essentially in the box squat, your shins don't travel forward. Now I don't know of any sport where the shins don't travel
forward for propulsion. So the mechanics of the box squat aren't found
in sport."

I'd love to hear your opinion on this statement. I read a lot of Charles
articles and find him very informative but this statement is sure to
ruffle a few feathers. Happy Christmas!

Aidan

A: Aidan,
I’m sure that there will be a lot of arguments on internet forums because of Charles’ statement. Let the “box-squatters” vs. “Olympic squatters” debate begin!!

Those of you that regularly read my website know that I am a big advocate of box squatting for many reasons: I feel box squats are easier to teach than “Olympic squats”, they strengthen the often overlooked posterior chain, you can set the depth of the squat so every rep looks exactly the same, they don’t place as much stress on your knees, you can recover faster from box-squatting, etc., etc. My list of the positive benefits of box squatting can go on and on.
Now, I agree that in almost all sports the shins travel forward for propulsion, BUT, I do not feel that we have to mimic this with EVERY lower body strength training exercise. Remember that all work performed in the weightroom is GPP (unless you are a powerlifter or Olympic weightlifter). Because of this, I just try to choose exercises that help strengthen all of the muscles that are used in an athlete’s particular sport. This is how my program has evolved and it’s how I came up with my main lower body template. For example, the reason that we almost always follow box-squatting with a quad-dominant, unilateral movement is to create “balanced” strength in the athlete. Since box-squatting emphasizes the hamstrings (because we’re sitting back and our shins are remaining somewhat perpendicular to the floor), we follow this with a quad-dominant, unilateral movement in which the athlete’s shins DO travel forward during the exercise. (This strengthens the quads to a greater degree than box-squatting. These exercises also help to keep our athletes flexible because most of them require a much larger range of motion, compared to box squatting.)

Developing this type of “balanced” strength & flexibility in the weightroom IN CONJUNCTION WITH PLAYING YOUR SPORT is what makes your strength “sport-specific”.

With all that being said, there is no “be-all, end-all” exercise in the weightroom. As much as I believe in box-squatting, there are MANY athletes out there that have succeeded in their sport without ever performing a box squat. This also holds true for many other exercises. The moral of the story is to find out what works best for YOU!

Joe D. 

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Q: Joe DeFranco –
First off, I received your Super Strength dvd and I’ve already watched it 4X and plan on watching it again. It is just what this industry needed and I’m recommending it to every coach I know. As far as I’m concerned, BFS is dead and the “Super Strength” method is the wave of the future. Now onto my question – do you have your athletes perform max effort & dynamic effort exercises throughout the entire season? If not, how long do you wait after the season before you reintroduce them?
Once again, great job coach and thanks!
Tim
Seattle, WA

A: Tim,
Thanks for the feedback on Super Strength! All the hard work that was put into that DVD really turned out to be worth it…I was looking through the orders yesterday and the DVD has already sold in all 50 states and 9 different countries! I can’t tell you how cool it is to actually be able to help people from all over the world with their training goals. I truly feel blessed to be in the position that I am in. Anyway, enough sentimental crap, let’s get to your question…
We perform max-effort work with our athletes ALL YEAR LONG. During the in-season, we don’t usually work up to a “true” max set, but we will strain with weights for 3-5 reps to help maintain (or gain) strength; and although I don’t like performing max singles during the season, we may perform a couple singles at 90% of the athletes 1RM on max-effort day. The thing to remember is that in-season training is never “engraved in stone”. We are always tweaking the program according to the athlete’s practice schedule, the intensity of the previous week’s game and the health of the athlete. But the bottom line is that we still incorporate some max-effort work into our athlete’s programs during the competitive season. Remember that getting strong in the off-season is worthless if you’re not able to use that new-found strength when you really need it (during the season)!

Unlike max-effort work, we do not always perform dynamic-effort training with our athletes during the season. A lot of time, performing dynamic work in the weightroom is overkill during the competitive season. For example, we rarely do extra plyos or dynamic work with our basketball players during the season because most of their day is spent running & jumping. In my opinion, these athletes should be focusing on max-effort work, muscle maintenance and injury prevention when they’re not on the court. This isn’t to say that we never have any of our athletes perform dynamic exercises during the season; in-season dynamic training is dependant on the sport and the individual athlete’s needs.

Joe D.

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Q: Coach D – I’ve been DYING to hear your thoughts on the dude that got kicked out of his gym for grunting!! You believe that shit?! Whats goin on with this world. we now can’t grunt at the gym??
Alan

A: Alan,
I must preface my statements by saying that I am not too familiar with this story. I’m so engrossed in my own world of training athletes & running my business that I rarely read the paper or watch the news. Basically, all I heard was that some guy got kicked out of his gym for grunting and now he may be suing the gym (hopefully I have my story straight). I also heard that this was a nice “health club” and not a “gym”. (This information is important for me to form my opinion.)

O.K., you may be shocked, but I have mixed thoughts on this one. Obviously, the first thought that came to my mind was, “It’s a friggin’ gym! Of course you should be allowed to grunt!”If all the guy did was let out a little grunt when he was straining to complete the last rep of a set, there isn’t anything wrong with that; it’s a gym and you should be able to push yourself a little in order to achieve your goals. With that being said, I have a feeling that it was more than that…
Everyone who is reading this right now could tell me a story of “that guy” in their gym. By “that guy” I’m referring to the guy who yells, screams, grunts and basically just tries to draw attention to himself. Every gym has “that guy”. You know “that guy”…the guy who can’t bench press 2 wet socks yet he’s “strong enough” to “shrug” 585lbs. “That guy” isn’t strong enough to squat off a toilet bowl with the Sunday paper, but he knows how to throw 16 plates on the leg press machine and do a couple quarter-reps as soon as the girls from the Pilates class walk by. I can’t begin to tell you how much I fu*king hate “THAT GUY”!
The thing that really pisses me off about “that guy” is that “that guy” always seems to find his way to the nice health clubs. If you think you’re hardcore, wouldn’t you go to a hardcore GYM, not a carpet & chrome health club that caters to housewives? But the answer is “that guy” wants the attention. “That guy” would be eaten alive at a hardcore powerlifting gym where guys are REALLY strong; so he goes to the carpet & chrome health club where he can stand out. It’s very sad, yet very true.

Now I don’t know if the man who got kicked out of the gym for grunting was “that guy” or not. If he was “that guy”, I feel the health club had every right to kick him out if they cater to the “general fitness” population.

The bottom line is that there are “GYMS” & there are “HEALTH CLUBS”. If you’re into lifting heavy weights, sniffing ammonia & using chalk - join a “GYM”. On the other hand, if you find heavy weights, chalk, ammonia & loud grunting offensive, you should have the right to join a “HEALTH CLUB” and be able to workout in a clean & quiet environment without being intimidated.

To each his own…
Joe D.

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Q: Mr. DeFranco – I just wanted to tell you that your protein bars are the best damn bars on the market! I just want to make sure they aren’t banned by any high schools or the NCAA. Are they ok for me to eat if I plan on playing college athletics next year?
Thanks for all you do coach!!
Danny

A: Danny,
Glad you like the bars! And DON’T WORRY; they are NOT banned by any high schools or the NCAA. They are perfectly safe for high school & college athletes to eat. So enjoy the taste & enjoy the performance enhancing benefits of the DeFranco Energy Bar!

By the way, if you really want a treat, take a DeFranco Energy Bar out of the wrapper and heat it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds before you eat it! It smells & tastes so good it should be illegal!

I have a full blown addiction to my own bars,
Joe D.

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