Mark Watts is The Director of Education at elitefts™ and the NSCA Ohio State Director. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the College of Professional and Applied Studies at Urbana University. He has a Masters Degree in Exercise Science & Health Promotion from California University of PA and a Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Clarion University of PA. Watts has worked with athletes in over 20 different sports at the Division I, II & III levels for over 15 years as a strength & conditioning coach at places such as Denison University, The United States Military Academy at West Point, Allegheny College and Clarion University. Watts competes in both powerlifting and strongman competitions. He is originally from Pittsburgh, PA and is a USMC veteran.

Bob Alejo

• Assistant AD/ Director of Strength & Conditioning
• North Carolina State University

Topics Covered in the Podcast

1. How Coach Alejo got started in the industry
2. How the game of baseball has progressed
3. Communication with Athletic Trainers and Physical Therapists
   1. Abdominal Injuries in Baseball
   2. Baseball Players vs Throwers
4. Tommy John's Epidemic... A different take
   1. Total body strength is the best way to increase bat speed
   2. More resiliency in younger arms
   3. Innings thrown vs pitches thrown
   4. Monitoring the Bullpen
   5. Baseball is performed from your toes to the ends of your fingers
5. Assessments
   1. Approach athletes like they're damaged goods
   2. Its not a one day deal
6. Go to Exercises
   1. There is no exercise you should avoid
   2. Pressing overhead for overhead athletes
   3. Finding the Research
   4. About balance more than movement
   5. Variances between the
7. In-Season Training
   1. High Intensity during the season
   2. Decrease the slope of the decline by lifting heavy
   3. If you can't gain strength at the rep range how can you maintain it?
   4. Low Volume reduces fatigue and soreness
8. Conditioning and Speed
   1. Rest,sets, and intervals
   2. Quantify everything
   3. Low intensity tempo work
   4. Tempo to Speed Endurance to Speed
   5. Everything comes down to 1st step speed
9. Strategies to build rapport with Sport Coaches
   1. Everything data driven!
   2. Start correlating your data
   3. If you are going to be fast, you need to be strong, If you are strong, you can change direction
10. Best advice for young coaches
    1. Technology has enabled coaches to contact anyone
    2. You don't need to guess anymore
    3. Call your peers
    4. Your group is your group. Get them better first

The Bob Alejo File

Assistant AD/Director of Strength and Conditioning Bob Alejo oversees all of the strength and conditioning efforts of the department, and coordinates the day-to-day efforts of the men's basketball team.

Prior to joining the Wolfpack staff in April, Alejo served as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Oakland A's, a position he also held from 1993-2001. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of the organization's year-round physical preparation at both the major league and minor league levels.

Prior to rejoining the A's, Alejo was the Director of Strength and Conditioning at UC Santa Barbara from 2005-2008. During that time he was also a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team as strength and conditioning coach for the Gold medal-winning men's beach volleyball team of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.

From 1984-1993, Alejo served as strength and conditioning coach at UCLA where he worked with 23 men's and women's teams, including the men's basketball team while current Wolfpack head coach Mark Gottfried was an assistant coach. During his tenure in Westwood, the Bruins racked up 25 national championships and produced more than 100 All-Americans.

Prior to joining the Bruins' staff, Alejo served as strength and conditioning coach for football at his alma mater, Chico State. He earned his B.A. in physical education from Chico State in 1982 and is a member of the Wildcats' Athletic Hall of Fame after a successful baseball career.

An accomplished lecturer and author, Alejo is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (through the National Strength and Conditioning Association's Certification Commission) and holds the advanced NSCA Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach distinction. He has also been elected to three halls of fame: Chico State Athletics, Chico State Baseball (inaugural inductee) and the Chico Professional Baseball "Legends of the Diamond."

www.elitefts.com

Joe Hashey

Synergy Athletics

Fitness Business Empire

Topics Covered in the Podcast

How Joe got started

1. 4 Knee Surgeries.... and a lot of questions
2. The Start of Synergy Athletics
3. Transitioning from only athletes to the adult population
4. Psychology of completion

What do need to know to start the training process

1. What the athlete wants and what the parents think they need
2. The responsibility of college preparation
3. Using communication with coaches as a learning experience

A general look at the training philosophy

1. Concurrent Periodization with High School and College Athletes
2. Repetition method to prepare for Max effort and dynamic effort
3. Training Athletes vs training lifters
4. Athletes need to know, like, and trust you
5. Understanding bar speed

Relationship Building

1. Three phases: Individual, family, community
2. Referrals vs giving back

What athletes really need

1. Appropriate recovery
2. Sleep cycle
3. Travel Teams
4. Nutrition
5. Not a work-ethic issue.... at all

Teaching skills related to the business word

1. Understanding learning styles
2. Match the mental to the physical goals
3. Uncomfortable equals opportunity for growth

How professional development has evolved

1. Mature as a business person as much as a training
2. Trainers approach to business vs business owners approach to business
3. The point of diminishing returns
4. Social Media Impact
5. Find people to network with

Training Football Players

1. Linear periodization for conditioning
2. One good lift in per session, then address weaknesses
3. Training In-season during the off-season
4. Make better at the sport not the work-out

The Best advice for Trainers and Gym Owners

1. You must be a life-long learner
2. There are people that have done what you want to do

The Joe Hashey File

Certified Strength And Conditioning Specialist, NSCA (2007 – present)
CPR and AED Certified (2006 – present)
Masters in the Arts Of Teaching – Colgate University (2006)

Achievements:
Youtube Partner – 8.2 Million Views on Fitness Videos.
Men’s Fitness, Contributing Author (2012)
Men’s Health, Contributing Author (2012)
Speaker NSCA National Conference, Las Vegas (2011 and 2012)
Speaker Central Ohio Strength Clinic (2011)
Author “Powerful Muscle Recovery Manual” (2011)
Speaker NSCA Vermont (2011)
Author “Bull Strength Conditioning Manual” (2010)
Speaker at Strength Coach 101 (2009)
Contributing Author – EliteFts, Straight to the bar, Critical Bench(2008- present)
Author “Bull Strength Training Manual” (2008)
Secrets of Strength Development Seminar Attendee (2009)
Head Modified Baseball Coach (2008 – 2009)
High School Assistant Football Coach (2006 – 2009)
Strength and Conditioning Coach – Hamilton High School (2005-2006)
Semi Professional Football All-Star (2004-2005)
Colgate University Football Player (2000-2002)

www.elitefts.com

Mark McLaughlin

• Physical Preperation Coach
• Owner of Performance Training Center

Topics Covered in this Podcast

Mark's Journey

1. Catastrophic injuries in youth athletics
2. 3 cases that got Mark's attention to research training
3. Individual Training to Volunteer to Facility Owner

Assessments

1. Extensive medical questionnaire
2. Subjective information form athlete: What are your goals
3. Omegawave assessments
4. Warm-up and performance testing
5. Sports Specific Conditioning
6. Strength Assessments
7. How much time are they willing to train?

Balancing the athletes schedule with training

1. Number of games, fitness level, particular team or coach

Communication with Sport Coaches

1. Educating parents and the athletes to avoid
2. The Training is only one part of it
3. Recovering is a crucial aspect
4. Recovery need s to be individualized and personalized
5. Recovery becoming natural
6. Avoid glycolytic and lactic environments
7. Allowing athletes to recover naturally
8. HRV Fight or Flight vs. Rest and Relax

Training Youth Athletes

1. Ban AAU Basketball and youth club sport games
2. Educate coaches and parents
3. A Platform for the education process
4. Can science give us the data we need
5. Governing bodies

Long Term Athletic Development Model

1. The coaches don't have the tools to manage the process
2. Education for when is the right and wrong time
3. Differences between males and females
4. The Formula 1 Analogy

HRV and other technology

1. Charlie Francis observation of Ben Johnson
2. Jay Schroeder Auto-regulation
3. Coaches becoming great listeners
4. Technology to embody the mission statement
5. Buddy Morris, Tom Myslinski and the Omega Wave
6. Observation plus training methodologies
7. Learn from other coaches and how they implement their programs

Athlete Buy-In

1. Quality trumps quantity
2. Reducing Injuries in Athletes
3. Educating parents and athletes on playing sport year-round
4. Reducing games = reducing injuries
5. Consistency of being active
6. Helmets on before 9th grade?
7. Concussions reducing exposures
8. Best practices in terms of techniques

What Athletes Need to Work on

1. Running technique can fix itself depending on age
2. Jumping, landing, bounding, etc
3. Strength training: single leg bodyweight movement first
4. Squat, Deadlift, Depth Jumps, etc. when the athlete is ready
5. Its not the exercises but how they are integrated

The best advice for young coaches

1. Be extremely open on everything
2. Best practices of the most successful companies
3. Develop a deep passion for learning
4. Communication by embodies your values and must connect with a multitude of work

The Mark McLaughlin File

Founder of Performance Training Center. Mark attended college at the College of Sante’Fe in New Mexico. He is a native Oregonian currently living in Portland. His passion of all athletics flourished throughout his teen years. He participated and competed on various teams and in a variety of sports. Through his years of participation in sports and later in his education, Mark developed a deep commitment not just to sport but also to the complete well being of the athlete. This passion and commitment leads to continual self-education in the field of athletic performance enhancement. Mark has been active in the field of athletic performance enhancement since 1997. Mark has trained over 700 athletes on every competitive level ranging from Olympic, professional (NFL, MLB, CFL), college, high school and grade school athletes. As well as working with individual athletes, Mark works and consults with professional organizations (NFL, MLB, NBA), NCAA universities, high school, club, and youth sport organizations. In addition to Mark’s training and consulting services, he conducts speaking engagements with various organizations locally, nationally as well as internationally.

www.elitefts.com

Evan Marcus

Head Strength & Conditioning Coach

Minnesota Vikings

Topics Covered in this Podcast

How Coach Marcus got started

1. Getting an edge in athletics
2. D3 to DI
3. Meeting Rock Gullickson
4. Not just Xs and Os but communicating with Athletes

Challenges at coaching at the professional level.

No matter what level, coaches are there to help athletes

Character Development
Your assessments, the biggest issues you face with athletes

1. Don't assume anything
2. Breaking everything down to its implest terms

Communication with private sector coaches

1. Player would preferably train with former college coaches
2. Expectations with more buy-in

Communication with the Medical Staff

1. Point A to point B
2. Overall goals for the players

Training before and during OTAs

1. Working with professionals
2. Knowing what to expect
3. "Go-to" exercises with progressions and regressions
4. Giving freedom to choose exercises
5. Focusing on movement speed for older athletes

In-season training

1. Maintain = good enough
2. Being the strongest during the season

Technology in terms of readiness

Staff development

1. No mixed messages for athletes
2. The trust factor with staff
3. Everyone believes in the same things

Advice for young strength coaches.

1. Just because you are in the NFL doesn't make you a good strength coach
2. Taking advantage opportunities
3. Young coaches don't want to pay their dues
4. Trying out what you read

The Evan Marcus File

Having joined the Vikings in 2014 as Head Strength and Conditioning coach, Evan Marcus enters his 9th NFL season this fall and has been in the field for 25 seasons.

In Marcus’ first offseason with the Vikings, he oversaw a complete transformation of the club’s weight training facility and revamped the strength and conditioning philosophies. Under Marcus’ direction, the club now uses a free weight based program, which places an emphasis on power, speed and quickness.

During his NFL career, Marcus has been a part of 2 Division Champions- New Orleans in 2000 and Miami in 2008. The 2000 Saints won their NFC Wild Card playoff game over St. Louis at the Superdome to give the franchise their 1st playoff win in the 34-year history of the club before advancing to the NFC Divisional Round against Minnesota. The NFC West title for the Saints was their 1st since the 1991 season and marked the 1st winning season for the club in 8 years. The 2008 Dolphins went 11-5 to win the AFC East, completing one of the great turnarounds in NFL history after going 1-15 the previous season. The 10-win improvement tied the biggest single-season jump in NFL history. The AFC East championship was the Dolphins’ 1st Division title since 2000.

Marcus oversaw strength and conditioning efforts at Virginia from 2011-13 as Director of Football Training and Player Development for the Cavaliers, marking his second stint in Charlottesville, the first coming as Head Strength Coach from 2003-06. Combined with his leadership at UVA, Marcus was head strength coach for the Miami Dolphins from 2008-10 and held the same position in 2007 with the Atlanta Falcons, where he worked with then DC Mike Zimmer.

Marcus began his NFL coaching tenure from 2000-02 as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints. His start in the field came at the college level with positions at Arizona State (1991-92), Rutgers (1993), Maryland (1994), Texas (1995-97) and Louisville (1998-99).

A 1990 graduate of Ithaca College, Marcus earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science. As a student-athlete he lettered 3 times as an OL with the Bombers and was a starter on the NCAA Division III national championship team in 1988.

A native of Union, NJ, Marcus attended Cranford High School. He earned his master’s degree at Arizona State in 1992. Marcus and wife, Lori, have a son, Jake, and daughter, Anna.

Bio from Minnesota Vikings

Tobias Jacobi

• Strength & Conditioning Coach
• Assistant Football Caoch
• Teacher

Strong Rock Christian School

Topics Covered in this Podcast

1. The Journey
2. The family sacrifice
3. Gong from a a head position
4. Dealing with being let go
5. Being humble and
6. You cannot be successful without an ego in this profession
7. Becoming a better coach by fitting in with other coaches
8. The transition from college to high school
9. The multi-sport athletes
10. Parents vs sport coaches
11. Getting kids strong in limited time
12. As little specialization as possible
13. Consistency is king
14. Box Squats for all athletes
15. Chris Doyle and programming
16. Assessments for athletes
17. Coach Jacoby's 5 Specific Assessments
18. What a typical training week looks like
19. What Coach Coach Jacoby wants all his athletes to talk with him
20. Taking pride in your last name
21. Implementing a leadership program
22. Communicating with Sport coaches and parents
23. Face-time is vitally important
24. Have the best interest of the athlete in mind
25. E-Mail is the devil
26. Get out of the weight room
27. If the only time coaches see you is in the weightrom than that is all you will ever be to them.
28. Advice for young coaches
29. Figure out what you don't know and learn it.
30. Call or visit the best coaches in the industry

Tobias Jacobi File

www.elitefts.com