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The Dangerous Truth About Who’s Running High School Weight Rooms in Most of America.
Would You Let a Non-Teacher Run English Class? Then Why Let Unqualified Coaches Run the Weight Room?
Schools do NOT allow anyone to teach a subject unless they have a teacher's certification. But, in the most dangerous room in the school, they allow anyone to be in charge.
South Carolina has just passed a bill requiring a certification for the Strength and Conditioning Coach in the weight room. You can read about the bill HERE.
Although I have 2 certifications; The USC Cert and The SSPC Cert, what I take pride in is that the Coach must demonstrate and pass a practical exam, NOT just a written exam.
Something I have always been passionate about is NOT just training myself and coaching others, but LIVING the very thing I teach or endorse others to do.
Since 2002, when I started full time Strength and Conditioning, I was always against the "old guard" - this is where Sport Coaches would run the weight room for athletes yet teach NOTHING.
They sat at a desk with coffee, a newspaper back in the day - today, a lap top or on their phone yet they teach nothing.
It amazes me that they do nothing themselves, yet they expect greatness from the athletes when they do NOTHING themselves.
This Video sums it up perfectly, from our NJ state clinic for The NHSSCA with Nate Stout from The Underground Strength Gym:
Kids today are certainly distracted BIG time by the phone, but, they are NOT dumb. If the "Coach" in the weight room is NOT training him or herself, they see a fraud a mile away. It is not enough to talk about it, you must LIVE it.
There are also college students who are studying exercise science, want to be a Strength Coach, yet they train like a bodybuilder or worse, do NOT train at all!
If you want to train like a bodybuilder, you must learn the methods from The Golden and Silver Era of bodybuilding, not the cable pully 20 lb BS we see today.
12 Week Old School Bodybuilding Program - Details HERE
Why the Golden and Silver Era of Bodybuilding? In the 60s and 70s, many bodybuilders doubled as athletes. They blended powerlifting, weightlifting and gymnastics / hand balancing to develop not just an amazing physique, but to develop greater athleticism and performance.
The Silver Era of bodybuilding was a time when York Barbell had a competitive Olympic Lifting Team. These men were also track and field athletes, bodybuilders and all around STRONG Men.
Learn from these times to better understand how to get STRONG.
As a Coach, you expect great effort from others. It must begin by yourself, from within! Do you ever see a Dentist with rotten teeth? Of course not.
Kids see the fraud a mile away, but oddly enough, many parents and school athletic directors / administrators do not.
School administrators MUST do a better job of screening the person who runs the weight room. All states across the country need to follow the state of South Carolina where a qualified, certified, experienced Strength Coach is mandatory to run the weight room.
If safety is always the priority, just as a pool requires a lifeguard and every classroom requires a certified teacher, the weight room must be no different.
Strength Coaches need more than superficial knowledge.
It is NOT suffice to cut and paste from social media videos.
The Coach must LIVE the training and understand what is best for the athlete according to their age, experience, emotional readiness and all around safety.
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How do the Wrong people become the "Leaders" in the weight room?
They don't train themselves yet they are in charge in the most dangerous room in the school? They don't have the knowledge, the depth of understanding....
We do not allow English, Science, Music, etc to be taught without a certification but the weight room is acceptable with an uneducated, unqualified and inexperienced adult?
Perhaps some people are smooth talkers, I don't know. I only understand doing the WORK. I understand doing the Work myself if I am to stand in front of others and require them to do the work.
Athletic Directors and School Admin MUST do a better job of screening who is teaching in the weight room.
Before hiring, have a S&C Consultant come in to help with the interview process. Part of the interview should absolutely be training a group of athletes.
Now, as much as Coaches need to train so they understand AND can inspire their athletes, the same lesson applies for athletes.
We see a LOT of athletes who don't do the work to EARN a spot on their sport team.
You must Build Body ARMOR, Strength, Power and GRIT. The "EARN IT" philosophy is for everyone, not just Coaches.
So, if Coaches are getting offended out there, step up and do the WORK. The Work will solve many "problems".
EARN IT - ATHLETE MESSAGE
Below is a conversation on Building BODY ARMOR for Athletes:
In NJ, we are far behind other states when it comes to high school strength and conditioning. Nothing has changed since I was in high school.
Anyone runs the weight room. In Schools, teachers go through endless professional development and all types of requirements, when will that standard change for the most dangerous room in the building?
See you in the Squat Rack!
Live the Code 365,
Zach Even - Esh
BEGINNER STRENGTH PROGRAM
DETAILS HERE
Get 2 FREE Videos from The Underground Strength Coach Cert HERE
