|
 By: Christopher Mohr
UConn is an incredible place to be; it's the #1-ranked kinesiology graduate program in the country, as the faculty and research opportunities are tremendous! Although I worked quite a bit in the human performance laboratory, my bigger role on-campus was in strength and conditioning with the varsity athletes, most notably men's and women's basketball and soccer. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to work with hundreds of phenomenal athletes - and continue to stay involved as much as possible to this day. Most applicable to the present interview, I'm happy to report that our basketball teams beat up on Pittsburgh and Louisville last year! 
 Click Image To Enlarge.
Personal Trainer, Eric Cressey. On top of the educational background, I've done a lot of work under the bar myself. As a competitive powerlifter, I have several state, national, and world records, and have squatted 540 lbs., bench-pressed 402 lbs., and deadlifted 628 lbs. My best total is 1,532 lbs. at a body weight of 165 pounds, although I'm now bumping up a weight class - or two, or three, or four! For the past year, I've trained at the world-renowned Southside Gym in Stratford, Connecticut. It's got a great tradition and plenty of attitude. I've written over 80 articles in a variety of online and print magazines, most notably: Mike Robertson and I released a DVD called Magnificent Mobility earlier this year, and I just released my first big solo project: "The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual." I'm currently in the process of relocating to Boston, where we're opening up Excel Sport and Fitness Training. We've brought together a great collection of minds in Rebecca Manda, John Sulliva, Brad Cardoza, Carl Valle, Matt Delaney, and myself; we're going to be building a lot of incredible athletes and weekend warriors alike.
Pat gave me the tour of campus, and Brijesh took the time to chat with me about anything related to training, nutrition, and life in general. Perhaps most importantly, these two guys brought me into the UConn varsity weight room to train, and it was there that my love of coaching really went to a whole new level. The day I met Brijesh, he invited me to come to watch him coach the baseball guys the next morning at 6:00 a.m. I showed up without thinking twice. The passion "B" displayed for coaching and his complete control over an indoor track full of 25 college guys was really remarkable - especially since he did it in a very mild manner. "B" isn't one of those coaches who needs to scream and yell at you all the time to make you better, and I've really modeled myself from his example. Perhaps most impressively was that every one of those players was wide awake at the crack of dawn; they were anxious to be coached by a guy whom they obviously respected tremendously as someone who could get them to where they needed to be. That was just over three years ago, and my coaching career has absolutely skyrocketed since then; I owe a lot of this success to Brijesh and Pat. In the years that followed, I worked extensively with Associate Head of Strength and Conditioning, Chris West, and the UConn men's and women's basketball and soccer teams. Chris and I come from markedly different backgrounds, but when we put our heads together on programming ideas and covering the teams' conditioning sessions, we make a great team. He's a great friend and professional colleague to this day.
I'm preaching to the choir by telling you this, though! This is one reason why live-in athletic preparation facilities have a leg-up on most collegiate and private coaches; they have 24-hour control over the athletes' diets, sleep habits, etc.
2. Accept that you need to spend money to make money. Buy books, DVDs, and magazine subscriptions and attend seminars. 3. Practice what you preach. How can a coach who can't bench 225 lbs. expect to prepare an athlete for a 225 rep-test at the NFL combine? You don't have to break any world records, but you need to at least have a solid frame of reference. 4. Find a great training crew - even if it means having to drive a little further to train. Attitude and environment are the two most important factors in your success as an athlete and coach. 5. Find mentors and establish a big network of industry professionals with whom you can exchange ideas. There are well over 100 people in the industry that I contact on a regular basis; all of them in some way have helped to make me a better lifter, coach, and writer. 6. Learn to write. Perhaps I'm just biased because my mother teaches high school English, but it's more important than you can possibly imagine. I reply to all my emails, but I have to be honest; when I get something like this, a guy isn't likely to get a prompt reply: "Dude ur sholder articel was awsum my sholder hurts when i bench what do u think i shood do." If "u" aren't motivated enough to actually type out the word "you," I might not be motivated enough to give you your free advice right away. Obviously, this over-dramatizes things, but knowing how to write a decent letter will go a long way in this world. 7. Read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. It has nothing to do with training, but everything to do with being successful in whatever it is you do. The same goes for " 8. Seek out opportunities, whether they're internships, chances to train with great lifters, or just a minute or two to chat with a speaker at a seminar. 9. Learn functional anatomy, and learn it extensively. Structure dictates function; you'll never build great athletes if you don't understand what appropriate movement should look like and the factors that are the basis for it. 10. Check out the Recommended Resources page on my website, EricCressey.com; I actually put it together because I get emails with this question all the time! 
Click Image To Visit EricCressey.com.
Eric's Website.
Training: Nutrition:
1. Our 'Magnificent Mobility" DVD has received some incredible feedback; readers can find out more at MagnificentMobility.com. I have to admit that it's been really fun to hear the feedback on this one, as we've had a lot of people for whom the drills in the DVD have resolved chronic injuries in a matter of weeks. 2. My first solo project, "The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual," was just released. It's the culmination of working with thousands of athletes, experimenting with programming, and observing what has worked with my athletes and those of other coaches with whom I correspond. I think it is going to open a ton of eyes in the world of strength and conditioning and, more importantly, take a lot of athletes to all new levels of performance. It is available at UltimateOffSeason.com. 3. I also publish a free weekly newsletter at EricCressey.com; we've got interviews, Q&As, product reviews, and all sorts of other good stuff.
Unfortunately, about the only way to find out for sure is to hear it from the straightshooters in the business or actually get burned by one of these guys' "smoke and mirrors" and learn the hard way. Hell, I know I got burned by a few in my path to where I am; I guess its all part of the learning process in this industry. Here's a good tip: find a good powerlifting gym and you'll find out pretty quickly who doesn't know his @ss from elbow when it comes to training. Powerlifters call it like they see it; they won't sugarcoat anything.
2. We've discussed the possibility of starting up a coaching group this fall; the response has been quite good, and it looks like we'll be going through with it. 3. Mike Robertson and I will be presenting the "Building the Efficient Athlete" seminar in New York City this July 22-23, 2006; this is going to be a great opportunity for good trainers to become great trainers. 4. I'll also be speaking out in Los Angeles on September 16-17, 2006. We'll have more information on this seminar shortly; the details are still being fine-tuned...
People always ask me what my philosophy is; here's what I tell them: "Train your body to work efficiently and take care of your diet and lifestyle, and you'll be rewarded with a physique that performs at a high level and just so happens to look great. You can't build a castle on quicksand, so sometimes you need to take a step back and make sure that the appropriate foundation is in place. Foundations aren't built with gimmicks; they're built with hard work and scientific practices."
Related Links:
Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
Related Articles
|
Sign in for more FREE features and tools!
|
|
Give Us Feedback:
Report A ProblemSite Feedback |
Follow Us:
|
Bodybuilding.com Newsletter
Receive exciting features, |
